I Want to Linger
by luluubelle
Summary: Bella's college roommates talk her into staying in the Chicago-area to work with them over the summer. Swimming, horses, arts & crafts, new friends, and more await at Camp Aro Wood. Canon couples. Rated M for language & potential lemons.
1. I'm leavin' on a jet plane

**SM owns. I'm just perma-borrowing the books from my ex.**

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We reached the security checkpoint. He pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Good bye Bella," he sighed.

"Bye Jake. I wish I had more time here this summer."

"Me too, Bells. Take care of yourself, ok?"

"You, too, eh? Don't forget to write, ok?" I said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Sure, sure. Well, you'd probably better get going, huh?" he said, kissing my cheek in return.

"Yeah, I'll talk to you soon." I waved as I stepped into line.

Security was uneventful - I was a pro at this by now. I took a seat in the boarding area and pulled out my iPod.

I never realized how much I'd miss my summers in Forks. My parents Charlie and Renee split when I was young. Renee moved us down to Arizona while Charlie stayed in Forks.

Summers I stayed with Charlie, most of the time spent on the Res with the Black family. Charlie and Billy were old fishing buddies - I'd stay with his family while Charlie worked. Jacob had become the younger brother I never had. Over the last few years we'd gotten even closer, since his older sisters had gone off to college.

I was kind of glad to have a month off between classes and the start of my summer job. It had definitely been worth it. Jake was thrilled to show off the motorcycles he'd been working on. Having turned 16, he was now able to drive legally, and we spent quite a bit of time out riding. We also spent a fair bit of time with his friends - 'the pack' as they called themselves - either down on LaPush's beach or at one of their houses.

_Ladies and Gentleman, we are now boarding Group A for Southwest Flight 1007. Non-stop service to Chicago's Midway Airport._

I gathered up my things and boarded the plane. I got lucky and managed to get a window seat in my favorite part of the plane - just ahead of the wing. I settled into my seat and pulled out my travel knitting project - a striped scarf. I learned to knit a few years ago when Renee dragged me to a class - one of her hobbies-of-the-moment. Up until this year, I didn't do much with it. Scarves and sweaters weren't exactly practical in Arizona. Of course, that changed last year - knits come in quite handy in Chicago.

As my fingers worked the ribbing on auto-pilot, my thoughts wandered.

My first year of college was quite an experience. Renee spent more time traveling with her new husband Phil than she did at home, so I wasn't really keen on staying in Phoenix for school. The University was in Chicago's Loop. Our dorm was on the 12th floor, giving us great views of the city. I got lucky - I got on really well with my roommate Angela. Jessica and Lauren, who shared the other room in our suite, were tolerable. Jess and I at least got along pretty well, though we certainly weren't best friends. But Lauren was an absolute bitch to me more often than not, and I never could figure out why. I just tried to avoid her as much as possible.

First semester was pretty much what I expected – lots of studying. I was determined to graduate in four years, so I had a full course load. The only downside had been meeting Mike Newton. I'd had my eyes on an extremely good looking guy in my biology class, but unfortunately I ended up with clueless Mike as a lab partner.

Things only got worse when I realized that Jessica had a thing for Mike. She wouldn't talk to me for like a month. I finally managed to convince her that I had absolutely no feelings for the guy. Thankfully, that brought my personal security threat down a level. I did my best to ignore Mike after that, but he was damn persistent. I still don't think he's given up on me.

Mike pretty much killed my attempts to pursue biology guy. He was just always there. It wasn't to the point of harassment or anything, he was just overly friendly, reminding me of a golden retriever or something. It didn't help that he lived on our floor, and we had a class together second semester as well.

Shortly after the spring semester started, Jess and Ang got letters asking them if they wanted to return as camp counselors for the summer. They decided they did, and encouraged Lauren and I to apply, too. So I figured what the heck and applied. It'd make a nice supplement to my loans and scholarships, right? It absolutely floored me that Lauren applied, too. I just don't see her as the living-outdoors-all-summer type.

My fingers were cramping up at this point, so I put the knitting away and checked my watch – three more hours. I sighed and pulled out _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_ and escaped into it for the remainder of the flight. I think the cover may have freaked out the guy sitting on my left.

The plane landed a few minutes ahead of schedule. I made my way off the plane and through the airport to the baggage claim area. Ang was waiting there for me. I ran over and gave her a quick hug.

"How was your flight?"

"Pretty uneventful. How's your summer so far?"

"Not bad. I've mostly been watching my brothers while mom and dad have been at work."

I noticed my bag making its way around the carousel and grabbed it.

"That's everything?" she asked. I nodded. "Alright, let's go get dinner. My family's waiting with the car outside."

We ended up at a Chinese buffet not far from their house. Afterwards, Angela helped me get my stuff inside, and we chatted a bit before I crashed.

The next day, Jess came over. Ang and I spent the day packing what we'd need for the summer, while Jess chattered away about her summer so far. Both of them kept throwing out tips and suggestions that they'd learned last year. At some point, we made a quick shopping trip to pick up some essentials that we - well, mostly I - needed. Apparently a plastic tub is better for storing your stuff all summer – it keeps the critters out and has the added bonus of making a bedside table of sorts. They also told me which bug sprays actually worked and which were useless – apparently we'd be dealing with evolved mosquitoes out here. I grabbed a small blue Maglite and Jess suggested I might want a waterproof watch. It wasn't all that stylish, but it had a stop watch and built-in alarm clock as well, which they both said would come in handy.

Having everything we needed, we headed home and finished packing up. We laid out our sleeping bags in the family room and watched a movie before heading to bed. Tomorrow would be the first day of staff training.

I had no idea what to expect.

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**A/N: Thanks to adoraklutz****, Maleficent, and Lambie for betaing this for me. And all the girls on UU for being my cheerleaders and just generally being awesome.**

**Go ahead. Pop my review cherry. You know you want to.  
**


	2. Make new friends

**SM owns. But I have six years of camp staff manuals around here somewhere.**

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Thank god we were finally here. Jessica would not shut up on the 2-hour drive from Angela's place. Who she hoped was returning, who she hoped wasn't, her favorite activities, her disdain for mice and spiders, her love of the lakefront… I don't even know what else.

Ang slowly applied the brakes as we approached a wooden sign announcing that we had arrived at our home for the summer – Camp Aro Wood. She turned onto the dirt and gravel driveway and followed its curving path deeper into the woods. As we traveled further from civilization, the trees gave way to an open field with a shed and soccer goals at one end, and a volleyball net set up at the other. We continued driving, following the signs directing us towards the parking area.

I looked around a bit more as Ang parked the car. There was a large building nearby; judging by the signs, I was pretty sure it was the lodge. We piled out of the car and headed in the direction of the lodge. Our training was set to start in about 15 minutes.

As we walked, I noticed a group of about seven or eight guys standing in a circle killing time. As I watched, I realized they were kicking around a red hacky sack; I couldn't help but stop and stare at them. Thankfully, Jess stopped dead in her tracks too, so I didn't look like a complete fool.

The first guy I noticed was fairly tall with dark hair peeking out from under his brown cowboy hat. He had the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up past his elbows and the buttons undone, exposing his chest. His shirt was tucked into his jeans, which fit better than any glove. I was quite impressed with his ability to play in cowboy boots.

The guy next to him was even taller, his dark curly hair cut short. With his incredible blue eyes and dimples, I was sure he could charm the pants off of any girl. Not only was he tall, he was big - probably played football or something. He had his shirt off, his incredibly well-defined muscles on display for all to see. I didn't think it was that warm, but then, I wasn't about to complain either. _Damn_.

On the other side of the cowboy was a tall, slim guy. The way the sun hit his messy auburn hair highlighted the red brilliantly. He also had his shirt off, but his back was to me. Even still, I could tell he worked out, and I was momentarily dazzled. _Double damn._ I was going to be in serious trouble this summer.

I heard Angela sighing to my left. Reluctantly, I tore my gaze away from the naked back of the god before me. I looked over at her to find her eyes were fixed on one of the guys I hadn't quite noticed yet. She smiled when I looked at her.

"Ben's back this summer," she said happily. Hmm... sounds like there's something there. I looked back at the guys, but instead of returning to my Adonis, I spotted my blue-eyed blond tormentor. I groaned as Jessica squealed.

"Newton," I muttered, at the same time she said "Mike!" Shit. How was I going to avoid him all summer? I momentarily wondered if he was stalking me…

I mentally shook myself and nudged both of them. I wanted to get out of there quickly. I wasn't sure which was the more pressing reason – avoiding Mike or not wanting the shirtless god to notice me blatantly worshipping his back side. God I'm pathetic – I haven't even seen his face yet. I suppose it wouldn't matter much if he noticed. I mean, I was going to be here working with him all summer. It wasn't like I could hide every time he came near.

We made our way into the lodge and were greeted by Heidi and Marcus - the camp's Director and Assistant Director.

We took a seat together on one side of a long cafeteria table. Slowly, everyone filtered in and took a seat - some sitting in groups, others alone. Since we weren't quite ready to begin, I excused myself and headed to the restroom with Angela.

We walked back in, and I could feel a pair of eyes on me as we returned to our spots. Great. Just like high school. God, I hated being the center of attention. I wondered if people could tell I'd never been to a camp like this before. I tried to ignore the feeling of being watched and let my hair fall around me to make a shield of sorts.

"So what's the scoop? Who do you know?" I decided to ask Jess. I needed a distraction and figured it shouldn't be too hard to get her talking. The girl never shuts up - especially if there's gossip to be told.

"Well, Lauren you know," she began. Ugh, yeah. She really was working here. "She'll be working in the office mostly. " It still surprised me that she was working here this summer. I never really pegged her for the outdoors type - unless it was to work on her tan.

She gestured to a younger looking group. "Those are the junior counselors."

"That's what Jess and I did last year," Angela added. "Most of them were CITs here last year, LITs the year before, and campers before that. So they know the camp like the back of their hand. Most of them are great about it and really helpful."

"Yeah," Jess chimed in, "but there are always a couple that are a bit cocky about it and let it go to their heads, especially with new staff. Don't let them get to you. Being a senior counselor, technically you're in charge of the cabin, not them. Don't be afraid to put them in their place if necessary." I groaned. Great, just what I needed. Hopefully there wouldn't be too much drama.

"Who are _they_?" I asked, gesturing towards the guys I'd noticed outside earlier. I couldn't help but stare again.

"Oh, them," she said derisively.

"The big one is Emmett," Ang started. "He's been working here a few years now. He's one of the lifeguards. And that's Jasper, one of the wranglers," she said, gesturing towards the cowboy.

"They're together." Jess piped in. "Like _together_ together."

"Oh, jeez, Jess. They're just roommates. I think you need your gay-dar checked," Ang corrected. She turned back to me, "They started here the same summer."

One of the wranglers? Hmm. No surprise there, I guess. I was still looking at them when my gaze locked on the most amazing green eyes I'd ever seen. I took in the rest of him and realized he was the one whose back was to me outside; his hair looked darker now that we were out of the sun. He shifted his eyes and looked directly into mine. I dropped my gaze quickly, a bit embarrassed to be caught staring like that.

"Who's the one with the reddish brown hair?"

"Oh, that's Edward," Jess supplied. "He's gorgeous, of course. And he knows it. He's been coming here for years. His father's a well-known lawyer in Chicago. Seriously, don't waste your time." She sounded rather bitter about it. I wondered what the history was there.

"Wasn't planning on it," I said, glancing back at where he was sitting. He was idly tossing the hacky sack around, catching it without looking.

"He's also Dr. Cullen's nephew," Angela told me, exchanging a knowing look with Jess.

"Who's Dr. Cullen?"

"Oh, he's the local McDreamy. He works at the hospital in town and will occasionally help out here at camp if needed," she told me.

"Usually on check-in days, since those can be a bit chaotic," Jess continued. "He's got this amazing British accent. He can check me out any day."

"Jess, he's married!" Angela hissed.

At that moment, two girls walked in. They were as different as night and day. One looked like a model - tall, thin, perfect, with her blonde hair flowing down her back. The other was tiny, her short black hair gelled into spikes, the tips dyed green.

As the girls were sitting down, Heidi and Marcus came in and greeted us. They explained that our training week would be somewhat similar to what the campers would experience - we'd learn games and songs, get a feel for the different program areas, and be moving around quite a bit. Of course, there'd also be the "boring" parts, going over policies and what-not.

So first things first: introductions. They started off by having us stand up in groups to see who did what - kitchen staff, office staff, program staff, lifeguards, wranglers, international staff, and finally, the bulk of us, Junior and Senior counselors. I noticed a few of the counselors were also lifeguards, including Edward.

Then they moved us to the open area of floor on the other side of the room and had us sit in a circle. The first time around we did a basic intro - our name, our position, where we were from, and how much (if any) camp experience we had. Then we played a game where you had to say your name and something you liked that started with the same letter, and remember everyone's names and likes that came before you. The first few people had it pretty easy. Ang, Jess, and I were in the middle, so it was a bit tougher. Thankfully we weren't at the end with 40-odd names to remember, though somewhat surprisingly, I was able to remember a good chunk of them.

By now it was nearly time for lunch, so the kitchen staff went off to get things ready. We went back to the tables and went over what the rest of the day's schedule would be: lunch, move in to the cabins, training at the lake, dinner, then a tour of camp.

Ang, Jess, and I were joined by Lauren, Chelsea the program director, Ben, Mike, Eric, and Stefan. Chelsea got us talking about where we were from, and Stefan told us about his home back in Romania and what he had done on his stop in New York City before camp. Mike continued his efforts towards me, so I tried to focus on Jess and Lauren's conversation, which was mostly gossip. Ben, Eric, and Tyler talked about who was back and were making bets on how long 'Barbie' would last at camp. Ang was pretty quiet, but I noticed she focused on Ben quite a bit. Yeah, definitely something there.

"Alright, everyone!" Emmett boomed over the din. "Lunch is over, so you all have 45 minutes to claim a bed and get unpacked before you need to be at the lake ready to swim. Unless you're a lifeguard, in which case you have 10 minutes to claim a bed and get your ass down to the waterfront ready to get wet."

Marcus shot Emmett a look while the rest of us giggled and made our way out to the parking lot.

We grabbed our stuff and headed back toward the cabins. When we got there, Lauren poked her head out of one and called us over. I was the last of us to make it to the cabin.

"Oh, sorry Bella," Lauren sneered. "I guess this cabin's full."

I kept my composure and turned to head out in search of a different one. Angela caught up with me. "Oh, Bella, I'm so sorry about her."

"Don't worry about it Ang. It's not your fault. You know Lauren and I have never gotten along. It's probably a good thing," I said, smiling. She helped me carry my things to the next cabin and then went back to hers. There were three girls already there dropping off their things.

"Hey, it's Bella, right?" the strawberry-blonde asked. I nodded. "Kate," she reminded me. "Well, we'd love to stay and chat, but Irina, Tanya and I are all lifeguards, so we gotta run. We'll see you down there."

I heard a commotion outside the cabin and jumped to the door.

"Good god Alice! How much stuff did you bring?"

"It's not that much Rose. Just the essentials." She saw me watching them. "Got room for two more in there?"

"Yep, just. You need a hand?"

"Ooh, that'd be great," she said, thrusting some bags into my arms. She made her way inside and dropped her things unceremoniously around her bed. "Just drop those on the bed; I'll sort it out in a minute." So I did. She looked at me appraisingly a moment, then started spouting off a whole list of things at a mile-a-minute that she'd do to improve my look. "Not that you look bad now, of course," she concluded.

"Geez Alice, what a way to introduce yourself," Rose said from her bed. "Must you assault everyone with beauty tips?"

"Oh stop being such a bitch, Rose. Besides, Bella and I are going to be the best of friends."

"Right, just like you're going to meet the man of your dreams in the Chicago area... You've been in the city two years and still no sign of him."

"Don't doubt me Rose. I've got a good feeling – I'm gonna meet him. Very soon." She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a handful of something. "You know I'm right. Does the name Royce King ring any bells?" Rosalie shuddered at the memory. "Sorry hun," she said, tossing one at Rose, then turned to me and held out her hand in offering. "Pixie Stick?"

"Thanks," I said, grabbing a purple one and ripping the end off.

She motioned to the three claimed beds. "Lifeguards?"

"Yeah," I said, then tipped my head back and dumped the entire pixie stick onto my tongue.

"Ok, time to get ready," Alice announced. "Let me see what you've brought," she said as she came over to where I was. I held up a navy tankini set and a one-piece suit. She looked at them appraisingly. "Go with the navy," she said with a nod.

"Ok, now for the cover-ups," Alice stated after we were all changed. My bewilderment must have shown on my face. "Honestly Alice, this isn't a fashion show."

Rose smirked from across the room. "Get used to it. You know Pixie Stick here's a fashion major, right? This is mild compared to our Friday night clubbing ritual."

"Fashion Retail Management," Alice corrected while she rummaged through my bags, then thrust a pair of cut-off jean shorts at me. "Those'll do." I quickly put them on and slid my feet into a pair of thongs before Alice could say much about my footwear choices. She glanced at them. "Hmmm. We'll have to fix those up in the Art Shack later."

She wandered back to her bags, pulled out a bottle, and squirted something into her hands before coming back to me. I jumped when she put her hands on my back, feeling a cool liquid. "Calm down Bella. It's just sun screen. You're so fair skinned, and you definitely don't want to burn this early in the season."

Rose wandered over and asked me to take care of her back, then she returned the favor to Alice. We finished up and I grabbed a hair band and secured my hair in a messy bun, glancing at my watch in the process. "Holy crap, guys! We're gonna be late!" Who knew getting ready would take so long? We hadn't even really unpacked anything! We grabbed our towels and headed out.

We hurried our way down to the lake front. I was hoping we could just slip in unnoticed - I really didn't need the full camp's attention on me. Well, us, I suppose.

"Ladies," boomed Emmett's voice. "So nice of you to finally join us." Well, so much for that theory.

"Sorry, it took us awhile to come," Rose said. Damn, that girl was blunt.

We laid out our towels and joined the rest of the group sitting on the beach. Emmett and the other lifeguards were all standing in front of us.

"Alright. So the first rule of the waterfront is -"

"Don't talk about waterfront?" one of the guys quipped.

"No. This is not Fight Club. The first rule is no going in the water or on the pier without a lifeguard present," Emmett continued on. They covered the usual pool rules and some that were more camp specific - no running, buddy checks, the various whistle signals they'd use, boating safety, and how weather could affect our time at the waterfront. Occasionally Tanya or Edward would take the lead.

As they talked, I leaned back on my towel, resting on my forearms, my legs stretched in front of me and crossed at the ankles. My eyes wandered and landed on Edward. He was standing to the left of Emmett, leaning on his red lifeguard rescue tube. I took him in - the size of his bare feet in his flip flops, his well-defined calves, his blue board shorts, the smattering of hair peeking out from the waistband of those shorts, his toned abs, and bare chest. His fair skin had just a hint of a tan. I finally made my way up to his face; he didn't look bored, but he had clearly stopped paying attention to Emmett.

"Alright, while I go get a few things ready, Edward's going to explain the swim tests." Apparently he hadn't noticed that Edward was completely zoned out.

"MASEN!" Edward jumped, startled at the sound of his last name. He shot a glare at Emmett, who just shook his head. "Dude, where were you just now?"

"Never mind," he mumbled, running a hand through his hair. He picked up the tube and held it across his hips in both hands, pacing as he spoke. "Alright, so the campers will be in the water two at a time. They'll swim from here to there," he said, pointing out the distance. "After they do the swimming portion, they'll head over and do a canoe tip test. Now, we're going to have you guys go through this so that we have an idea of your abilities and so that you know what the campers will be doing and can prepare them. Tanya, Irina, Kate, and I will be watching the swimmers, while Makenna, Eric, Liam, and Carmen will be taking care of the canoe tests. Afterwards we'd like you to wait down here until everyone's done."

We made our way to the pier and sat with our feet dangling in the water until it was our turn. Rose and I ended up being paired together. Both of us were good swimmers, so it was pretty routine. We got out and headed over to the next bit. I turned to take a quick glance at Edward and noticed him staring in our direction.

"Edward!" Tanya hissed, smacking him in the shoulder to pull him out of his daze.

"The hell, Tanya?" I heard him say as I turned back to pay attention to where I was going.

Rose and I caught up with Alice, and we waited our turn for the canoe test. Alice was gushing a mile a minute about how hot various guys were – and which ones should put their shirts back on – now that we were seeing them half-naked.

We put our life vests on and waited for the next canoe to come back. Eric reminded us of how to safely get in the canoe, and we sat. He was about to pull us out when Emmett came over.

"I'll take this one," he said to the kid. "You girls ready for this?"

"You just want to get me wet," Rosalie replied.

"You know it baby," he said with a shit-eating grin, showing his dimples.

"Ok, when I'm deep enough…" Alice and I tried to smother a laugh while Rosalie raised an eyebrow. "… I'm gonna tip you. You'll find your way under the overturned canoe. When you're all underneath, you'll come back out, flip the boat upright, and climb back in. Then paddle back to shore." Emmett explained as he pulled our canoe out into the deeper water. "Once you're back, then you'll lift the boat and empty the water out so it's ready for the next group. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Yup."

"No problem big boy," Rosalie purred, her eyes glancing down towards the water.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat. He started rocking the canoe "Ok. Ready?"

Rosalie looked at Alice and me, a wicked grin on her face. "If the boat's a rockin', don't come a –"

Before she could finish, we were in the water. We went through the process as Emmett had instructed. We made it back to shore and grabbed our towels to dry off.

As we were waiting for the last few people to finish, I realized the cowboy was missing.

"Where're the wranglers?" I wondered aloud.

"Oh, I think Emmett had them do their tests before camp started. The timing today didn't work out for them. Besides, they're all returning staff, I'm sure they're fine," Alice said. She looked at me a moment. "Why Bella Swan, do you have a thing for cowboys?" she sang, her Southern accent coming out full force. I didn't have a chance to answer her, though I'm sure my blush gave me away.

"Alright everyone," Heidi called. "Head up and get changed and showered and we'll see you at dinner. And wear comfortable shoes – we'll be doing a bit of walking afterwards."

"Alice, where are you from?" I asked as we started walking back.

"Grew up in Biloxi. Came to Chicago for school, like Rose mentioned."

"In search of Mr. Right?"

"No honey. My soul mate. There's a difference."

"Oh god, Bella. Don't get her started," Rose interjected, rolling her eyes.

I laughed. "Thanks for the warning. So are you from around here?"

"No, I'm from New York – Rochester to be exact."

"So how do you two know each other? You seem pretty close."

"We've been roommates for the last two years." Rose said.

"At Columbia, down in Chicago," Alice finished, knowing I was going to ask.

"So are you in University Center then?"

"Yeah. You know it?"

"Yeah, that's where a bunch of us live. Angela, Jess, Lauren. Mike." I said, the last name with disgust. "12th floor."

"That's a Roosevelt floor, right?" Alice asked. I nodded. "Do you know any of the musicians?" I shook my head. "That's too bad. I've heard some of them down in the practice rooms while I was using the art room. They're amazing. You know Edward goes there right?"

_Wait, what?!_ Why didn't I recognize him? Surely I'd remember seeing him. Wouldn't I? He must not live on my floor. I wondered if I'd had any classes with him, even though we weren't in the same program.

"Does he?" I looked around the group to see where he was at – and if he was overhearing any of our conversation. He and the other lifeguards were out of earshot at the back of the group. I noticed Tanya was close to him with her arm around his shoulders.

"So what are you studying?"

"Journalism and English. Hey, Alice. How did you know the wranglers took their swim tests early?"

"Oh, I was here early too - setting up the Art Shack. A lot of us were here getting our areas ready ahead of time."

"Ah." By this time we were back at our cabin. We gathered up our things and headed to the showers, mumbling hellos to Tanya, Kate and Irina as they came in.

Alice tsk'ed at my post-shower outfit – comfy jeans and a fitted concert t-shirt. She was just going to have to deal.

After dinner was cleaned up, Marcus had us count off, separating us into eight groups. I ended up with Garrett, Jane, Emmett, and Mike. _Fuck me. _Was there no escape from him?

Marcus gave each group a slip of paper with our first destination and told us we'd find our next clue there. We'd be doing a sort of scavenger hunt to learn our way around camp, and there'd be a prize for the group who returned with all of the clues first. Garrett, Mike, and I were the newbies, though Garrett, being the Trip Director, had been here early, so he had a bit of a leg up on the two of us. I learned that Emmett had a very competitive streak, so we took off running towards the first question. Amazingly, I managed not to trip as we ran from location to location.

We made our way around camp, picking up each clue as we went. As I was pulling the clue from the wooden sign at the archery range, I ended up with a splinter.

"Shit," I muttered, handing the clue to Jane while I inspected the damage.

"You OK?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah, just a splinter. We can take it out when we finish. Where to next?" We went back to examining the clue and continued on our way. The final clue instructed us to return to the lodge, where we found one group had beaten us back.

"Sonofabitch," I muttered as I inspected my finger. I hated splinters – I could never seem to get them out on my own. "Can you help –" I stopped dead, not expecting to see Edward in front of me instead of Emmett.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking concerned.

"Uh…" my mind went blank for a moment. "What?" I felt myself blushing. _Damn, I felt like an idiot._

"You were asking for help…" he prompted.

"Oh, right. Um… splinter." I held my hand out. "Would you mind helping me get it out?"

He took my hand, and I pulled away at the electric shock I felt between us. "_Sorry_," we both muttered. He took it again, and the feeling was still there, but I didn't pull away this time. After looking at it a moment, he went and grabbed something from the First Aid kit. He returned and carefully took my hand again.

I cringed and looked away when I realized he was using a needle to get it out.

"I'm not hurting you, am I?" he asked as he worked.

"No, no. It's fine. I just get icked out by needles."

"Oh. Ok, well, it's out now. You can look again." I turned back to him to find a smile playing at the corners of his lips. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Uh, well, thanks." Damn. Being this close to him was making me incoherent. I shifted my gaze, suddenly feeling nervous and self-conscious.

"Um, yeah. No problem," he replied, then went to sit by Emmett.

I went and sat by Angela; thankfully she'd returned by then so I could avoid Mike. We caught up on how each other's hunt had gone while waiting for everyone to get back.

After all the groups had returned, we were told we were free for the rest of the night so we headed back to the cabins. All of my cabin decided to stay in, unpack a bit, and get to know each other better. As the conversation died off, I grabbed my flashlight and book and read a bit. I could hear a group outside singing, accompanied by a guitar and, _was that a banjo?_ Whatever it was, they sounded good, and I drifted off to sleep, serenaded by their music.

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**A/N: Thanks again to my awesome betas adoraklutz****, Maleficent, and Lambie. And love to the girls at UU.**

**LIT stands for Leader in Training, CIT is Counselor in Training. Specifics vary from camp to camp, but for our purposes, LITs are age 16-17, CITs are 17-18, and you have to have been an LIT to be invited back the following year as a CIT.**

**Reviews are love. And if you stumbled on this story from somewhere other than the UU group, let me know how you found it.  
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	3. Daisies in the Sun

**SM owns. I own a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies though.**

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_We were in biology. We had just finished our lab and were walking back to our dorm, chatting about everything and nothing. As the elevator neared our floor, he gently placed his hand along my jaw, then leaned down to my face, his lips meeting mine so softly; if not for the spark I felt between us, I wouldn't have known they'd actually made contact. Just as I was about to return the kiss, he pulled away, chuckling softly._

"_This is your floor," he told me._

"_But…" My mind was still in a fog from his kiss._

_He kissed my forehead. "I'll see you later," he said, his voice soft as velvet. The elevator doors closed to take him up to his floor._

"Don't go…"

_I was lying in a meadow at dusk. The blanket beneath me was comfortable. I don't think I'd ever felt this content in my life. Just pure bliss. I reached my hand out to the side and was surprised to find something solid there. I rolled onto my side and realized it was him. When he saw me looking at him, his mouth curved up into a crooked smile. He reached his arm out, inviting me to come closer. I scooted closer and curled up next to him, his arms wrapping around me. _

I woke from my dream mildly confused. I hadn't dreamed about kissing biology guy in quite a while. I forgot how nice those dreams were. But what were we doing lying in a meadow? That was new. God, I wish my dreams made sense. I wanted to just lie there and continue to bask in the after-effects of my dream, but something felt off. I looked around the cabin and saw Alice sitting up in her bed, though I couldn't tell what she was looking at in the almost dark.

"Alice?" I whispered hesitantly.

She blinked a couple times before her eyes focused on me. "Bella, he's here."

"What? Who is? Where?" I asked, looking around nervously.

"My soul mate, silly. Who else? He's here at camp." She noticed my eyes shifting about. "Stop being paranoid, he's not in our cabin. Well, not yet anyway." At the last bit she started giggling and bouncing on her bed. Bad move - the springs squeaked like nobody's business.

"Alice, chill. You're gonna wake the other girls. C'mon, let's talk outside." We headed for the porch.

"Ok, so tell me how you know this." Before she could start, I heard the door open and close. We'd been joined by Rosalie.

"Well, sometimes I just get a general feeling of something that's going to happen – like meeting my soul mate soon. And other times, I have really clear visions or dreams. And I had a one last night – of him and me, here at camp."

"So who is it?"

"I'm not sure - I couldn't see his face. But we were definitely here at camp. We were behind a building. Both of us were wet - I'm guessing we'd just been in the lake, 'cause I could hear it lapping on the shore nearby."

"So did you get any clues to who it is? And what were you doing that you couldn't see his face, Alice?"

"Well, he was blond..."

_Oh god, it better not be Newton._

"... and his tongue was very busy. And _ohmygod_, Bella, it felt _wonderful_!"

I must have been blushing a million shades of red at that.

"Well, that's helpful. What are you going to do? Have auditions with every blond guy here to see who's the most cunning linguist?" Rose asked sarcastically.

"Come to think of it Rose, that's not a bad idea," Alice replied just as sarcastic.

"Come on you two. Let's get ready for breakfast." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at them. I wasn't sure what to make of Alice's apparent visions.

---

After breakfast, we made our way out to the sports field to work on teambuilding games. The first one we split up into teams. We each stood on a marker with one empty one in the middle. We had to work out how to move everyone to their opposite side using just the one open space. This was made even more challenging with the restriction that the returning staff who knew how weren't allowed to help us out.

The next game we played was human knots. We split into groups of about ten. We put our hands into the center of our grouping and grabbed hands with someone else. We talked our way through it, getting people untangled. At one point we were oddly contorted to get a chain of people through a few of us. Someone's foot caught my arm throwing me off balance.

"Oh shit!" slipped out of my mouth before I could think.

I felt myself knock into someone before we hit the ground. I had a good guess who it was due to the way my body felt where we were in contact.

He had frozen beneath me. Newton came over and offered his hand to help me up. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and took his hand.

"Uh, thanks." I mumbled, trying to rid myself of him as soon as possible.

"Yeah. You ok?" he asked, putting his arms around my shoulders. _Ugh! Would he ever get a clue?_

"Fine," I answered curtly, shrugging out of his arm. I turned to Edward. "Sorry 'bout that."

He didn't reply, just looked irritated. Great, he was pissed at me.

Chelsea came over then to see how our group was doing. Seeing that our chain had broken, she asked us to regroup and try again. The second go-round went better, but I could still feel the tension between Edward and me.

We moved on to a third activity, splitting into smaller groups of about five people. Rose ended up in my group, and when we saw what we were doing, we made a quick pact to do what we had to to stay dry. My good mood soured when I saw Edward was in my group again, still looking pissed. Liam and Emmett were in our group too; Emmett was trying to get Edward out of his bad mood. Chelsea directed us to sit in a circle, lie back, and then put our feet up in the air. She placed a bucket of water on our feet. The goal was to lower the bucket to the ground without spilling it.

We were doing pretty well. I heard a squeak that indicated a group's bucket had drenched them. I looked at Rosalie and she mouthed "Alice," confirming my suspicions. A moment later, I felt our bucket shift its balance towards Rose and me. We looked at each other, and she nodded as we attempted to get it back into balance. We may have intentionally overcompensated, shifting the bucket away from us. The boys were pretty much drenched, while Rose and I had managed to stay mostly dry – mission accomplished.

"What the hell?" Now drenched, Edward's mood had gone from bad to worse.

"Oh, come off it. You guys are lifeguards; a little water won't kill you," Rose replied.

_Though it might kill us. Look at how their wet t-shirts cling to their bodies. Unf._

"But, Rose, we could have won! We were so close!" complained Emmett. Oh right, Mr. Competitive.

"I don't know how you figure that – half the groups are still in it. It's not like we were the final three or something."

I tuned out at this point, letting the two of them continue their argument. I needed to distract myself, so I went over to chat with Alice.

"Any luck with the soul mate yet, Al?"

"No, but I haven't really had a chance to figure it out. No rush, though. I know he's here, and when the time is right, we'll know it. The suspense _is_ killing me though."

We sat and watched while the remaining groups finished. Tanya's group was done now, and I watched as she joined Edward. His mood seemed to improve slightly.

Rose rejoined us a little while later.

"The nerve of that… Aaaagh!" she seethed.

"What's wrong, Rose?" Alice prompted.

"That… Neanderthal! Ooooh. Where does he get off? Saying that he was hoping we girls would have been drenched instead of them."

"Are you sure he wasn't just trying to flirt with you? I mean, no offence, but you were pretty forward with him yesterday. Maybe he's just returning the favor?" I asked.

"Insinuating how hot we'd look in a wet t-shirt contest is not a fucking compliment. And then he has the nerve to call me 'baby'! What the hell is wrong with him?" She sat with a huff, joining Alice and me while we waited.

Finally, the other groups finished up. We lounged in the grass as we discussed how things went, what could have gone better, and how to apply it all with our campers. I noticed Rose kept glaring daggers at Emmett whenever he'd look our way.

After the discussion, we were given time to change if needed, then went in for lunch.

Rose was still steamed about the whole Emmett thing and went to sit as far as possible from the table he usually sat at, with Alice following her. I went to join Angela and Jessica again. I noticed Angela was a bit distracted today.

"What's with her?" I asked Jessica.

"Ben," she answered simply.

"Are they a couple now?"

"No, just in that 'obsessed with each other' stage, but neither of them seems ready to do anything about it at the moment."

"Hmm." I thought about it for a bit. Everyone was back and seated by now. I glanced around the room. Tanya was still all over Edward at the table just behind us.

"Are there a lot of couples here on staff?" I asked Jess, curiosity getting the better of me, but not wanting to completely give myself away.

"Um, a few. The wranglers Peter and Charlotte are engaged. Ah, who else?" She thought a moment, looking around the tables. "Charles and Makenna, Riley and Bree, and James and Victoria. Tanya and Edward had a thing last summer. I'm kind of surprised they're still together – she goes to school in Alaska. It was a big deal at the end of last summer. Looks like they must have kept in touch."

Suddenly, I felt an arm around my shoulders. "You know, Bella, you and I should go out sometime." _Fucking Newton._

"Oh, hey, Mike." _Shit, how am I going to get out of this? "_Let me think on that. I should probably call Jake and see how feels about it. He's pretty overprotective." I pushed his arm off me.

"Who's Jake?" Eric piped up. _Oh god, not him too._

"Oh, he's back in Washington. We go way back." I shot Jess a pleading look, hoping she'd get the hint to change the subject.

"Hey Mike, anything good going on this weekend?" Jess asked. _Thank you_, I mouthed to her.

"Uh, not sure. Yorkie tends to have the 411 on things."

"There's not much this weekend," Eric answered. "There's a couple local ball games, if you're interested. The Sox are playing in Milwaukee, and the Cubs are playing at home this week."

"Oh, the Sox, definitely," Mike said. "I can have my dad get us tickets."

Everyone at our table said they would go.

"What about you, Bella? You in?"

"Sure, why not? It's not like I can go home for the weekend."

The rest of lunch was spent discussing the upcoming game. After lunch, we went out and did a number of activities on the low ropes course.

After a short break, we met up at the athletic fields. Benjamin gave us a tour of the equipment shed so we'd know what was available. After that we were free to play whatever we wanted until dinner.

Everyone split off, some playing soccer, others playing football. A few people were just lazily tossing Frisbees. The girls from my cabin were joining up with a volleyball game, so I decided to join them. We decided to play girls vs. guys. We had a good game going – though the guys weren't too thrilled that we were kicking their asses. We were within the last few points of the game, and Alice, Kate, and I were up near the net. We had a good rhythm going. Unfortunately, so did they. _Bump, set, over. Bump, set, over. Bump, set, over. _Tyler saw an opening and broke the rhythm. He nailed the ball over the net. It was coming at me like a missile. I put my hands up in an effort to both protect myself and keep the game going, not really paying attention to what I was doing. The ball made contact with the fingers of my left hand, and I winced. Alice kept it in game, and I moved out of the way so Rose could spike it over the net. The point was ours.

"Oh crap! I'm sorry, Bella!" Tyler called from his position near the net.

"Bella, are you ok?" Mike called from their side of the net.

"Yeah, fine. Let's finish this game." I shook my hand out a bit. It didn't feel _too_ bad.

We regrouped. Irina served the next ball right into an open spot. The guys scrambled but missed it completely. Score another point for us. The next serve they returned.

"Mine," Irina called from behind me before bumping the ball forward.

"Got it," I yelled, setting it up for Tanya. A searing pain shot through my finger.

_Shit. Not fine. Not fine at all. Good god that hurts._

Tanya sent the ball over the net. I made my way off to the side to sit out the rest of the game while they continued. A few more volleys, and the point was scored. Tyler and Mike came running over to me.

"Oh, god. Bella, I'm so sorry," Tyler apologized.

"You sure you're alright Bella?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, guys, I'm fine. I just need to sit out and rest it. Go back to the game."

"I'm so sorry, Bella. I didn't think I'd hit it that hard. God, I'm just so sorry." Tyler couldn't seem to shut up about it. The boy was going to drive me nuts if he didn't stop soon.

"Enough, Tyler! It's not anybody's fault. I don't blame you at all. Please stop apologizing," I begged.

I sat and watched a bit while they finished up. The guys decided a rematch was in order. I watched a little bit, then lay back and basked in the sun while they played. My thoughts drifted back to my dream. Why was I dreaming about him now? I hadn't seen him since the end of first semester, had I?

As we headed up to the dining hall for dinner, I noticed my finger was swollen and bruising pretty badly. I headed into the kitchen and asked for a towel and some ice. Randall helped me out, showing me where the ice machine was in case I needed more later.

I made my way back to the tables and took a seat.

"Isabella, what happened?" Marcus asked from the end of our table.

"It's nothing. Really. I just bruised it during volleyball."

"How's it feel? Can you move it?" he came over, inspecting it.

"I'm not sure. It's too swollen to really tell."

"Hmmm…" His fingers were on mine, assessing the damage. I tried to hide it, but he saw me wincing as he felt along it. "Darn, Sasha's not here tonight." Of course I'd get injured when the on-site EMT is gone. "Mike – can you drive her into town to have this looked at?"

"Hey, Marcus," a velvet voice behind me interrupted. "I'm pretty sure Carlisle's working tonight. I can take her in."

"Ah… excellent, Edward. Why don't you two come with me to the office for a moment?"

I grabbed the ice off the table and followed him; Edward was a couple steps behind me.

"Bella," Marcus started as we walked. "I know we haven't gone over First Aid with everyone yet, but it's really important that injuries aren't downplayed. We have to keep records of everything, even the minor stuff. I know it's a pain, but there's not much we can do. Camp policies, you understand?"

"Yeah, no problem, Marcus," I said, nodding my understanding. I still didn't like all the attention over my finger, but what could I do?

We made our way into the office. He gestured to one of the chairs, and I sat. Edward remained standing.

"Alright…" he handed me a couple of forms. "Start filling these out. Now, remind me what your last name is," he asked as he shuffled through the stack of our health history cards.

"Swan," I replied absently.

He continued his search. "Ah, here we go." He pulled out my form, then grabbed another paper, and handed them to Edward. "You remember the drill from last year, right?"

"Yup," Edward said simply as he took the papers from Marcus. "Should I take my car or one of camp's?"

"Go ahead and take your car. Make note of your mileage, and we'll reimburse you. We'll see you when you get back," he said, then left the office to return to dinner.

"Come on. You can finish that on the way," Edward told me. I got up and followed him to the staff lockers. He grabbed his keys, wallet, and cell phone, while I grabbed my purse and _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_.

I was perplexed. Why was Edward suddenly being nice, like he cared about me? Especially after I'd unintentionally pissed him off this morning. I did not get this guy at all. The idea of being with him for the next hour or however long made me a little nervous.

We made our way out to the parking lot in silence as he sent a quick text. He pressed a button on his keys, and I saw the lights flash on a silver Volvo. He walked over to it and opened the door for me, then hurried around the car to get in himself. We made our way down the camp road slowly, but once we hit the main road he was off like a bat out of hell. I busied myself with finishing the form, then turned my gaze to the scenery flying by – lots of farm fields and ranches. He slowed down considerably once we reached the edge of town, which made me wonder how many times he's been pulled over out here.

We pulled into the clinic parking lot and made our way to Urgent Care. I explained to the guy behind the desk about my finger, and he had me sign in and take a seat. A few minutes later, we were called back, and the nurse took an assessment. He told me I'd probably need an x-ray to be sure nothing was broken.

We made our way back out to the waiting area. I was given a clipboard with more forms to fill out. Edward and I took a seat in the waiting area. I had just started filling out the forms, when Edward interrupted.

"Here. This is the insurance information for camp." He thrust one of the papers he brought at me.

"Um, thanks. Anything else camp specific I need for these forms?"

"Not really. You need your cheat sheet?" he asked, holding up my health info card.

A muffled laugh escaped me. "No, I think I know my history well enough. Thanks though." I couldn't keep from smiling and rolling my eyes at him.

I returned the forms and pulled out my book, hoping beyond hope that the Unmentionables would take care of Mr. Collins. At some point, Edward went up to check on how long the wait would be, then disappeared down the hall for a bit. Shortly after he returned, I was called back. The nurse showed me to the exam room and told me the doctor would be with me shortly. A moment later there was a knock before the door was opened to reveal the young blond doctor.

"Miss Swan?" he asked, looking at my chart. _Oh, god, the girls were right. _My voice was momentarily gone, so I simply nodded.

"I'm Dr. Cullen. So you damaged your finger while playing volleyball at camp, correct?" he asked. I was distracted by his British accent, so all I managed was a weak "Yeah."

"Alright, I'm going to take a look at it. You've been icing it, that's good." I sucked in a breath as he examined my finger. He was gentle with his ministrations, but it still caught me off guard.

"Hmmm. Well, I'm pretty sure it's sprained, but I'd like to take x-rays to be sure it's not broken." He quickly filled in a form and handed it to me. "Take this with you down to Radiology. After they've done the x-ray, I'll see you again and get you set and on your way."

I made my way down to Radiology and after a short wait had my hand x-rayed. I then returned to my seat next to Edward and resumed reading.

Before long, I was called back to the exam room and Dr. Cullen returned. He popped the film into the viewer and showed me the damage.

"Well, it's not broken, but it is dislocated," he said, pointing out my misaligned joint.

After giving me a local anesthetic, he adjusted my finger. It still hurt like a bitch. He taped my finger into a metal splint, gave me a prescription to help with the pain and swelling, and instructions on how to take care of it. I'd have to keep it splinted for a few weeks.

A few hours later, we finally made our way back out to Edward's car, and he once again opened the door for me. Such a gentleman. Just before we turned onto the road, my stomach growled embarrassingly loud.

"Oh, right," Edward looked over at me. "We left before you got a chance to eat, didn't we? Do you want to stop on the way or just raid the kitchen when we get back?"

"Will that be ok? Raiding the kitchen, I mean?"

"Yeah, as long as we don't take anything meant for meals later in the week. There's almost always leftovers. If all else fails, you can at least make a sandwich."

"Thank god for peanut butter and jelly."

"Heh. You might change your mind about that by the end of the summer." I noticed a smirk playing at the corner of his lips.

"Camp food's really that bad?"

"Only if you're a really picky eater."

We fell back into silence after that. I pondered whether I should apologize again for pissing him off this morning. Considering his current good mood, I decided not to bring it up again. Before I knew it we were back in camp. We dropped our stuff back in the lockers, then headed to the office to leave the paperwork for Marcus.

Edward led me into the kitchen after that, heading straight to the fridge and opening it.

"See, what'd I tell you? Plenty of leftovers."

"Geez, there's enough to feed a small army. What, no house elves?" I joked.

"No, but supposedly there's a kitchen ghost." As if on queue, we heard a door slam, making us both jump. A few seconds later, we were joined by Emmett.

"Eddie boy! Where've you been all night?" he turned and saw me there. "Ah! Hot date, I see." I felt the blush creeping into my face.

"What do you want, Emmett?" he asked, annoyance obvious in his tone. "And it wasn't a date, you moron. No one in their right mind would consider a trip to the hospital a date."

"S'mores, bro," Emmett said, making his way to the fridge. "You should know that by now. And maybe you should think about finding a date at the hospital. You could ask Carlisle to give you a few pointers." He winked at me.

"I can't believe we're having this conversation…" Edward muttered, shaking his head.

"So what happened after dinner? We miss anything good?" I asked, happy to change the subject. I grabbed a plate and put some of the leftover lasagna on it, then popped it in the microwave.

"Not really. A bunch of staff-led games and stuff to get people used to being in charge of things." He looked at Edward. "Tanya's kind of pissed that you disappeared though. Just so you know."

"Great," though he didn't sound too thrilled about that. He grabbed some food for himself and heated it up. "So I take it we're done for the night?"

"Yup, we're free," he said, emerging from the fridge with the chocolate bars. "Jas is getting the campfire started for the night. Hey Bella, you girls gonna join us tonight?" He moved over to the shelves in search of the rest of what he needed.

"I dunno," I hedged. "I'm kind of drained from all this." I held up my splinted hand in explanation, then went back to finishing my dinner.

"We won't keep you up too late. C'mon," he cajoled me, "how can you pass up s'mores?"

"Alright, fine," I sighed, smiling, "I'll ask the girls when I get back." I had no idea if Rosalie would be in the mood to deal with him tonight or not.

"Excellent! Alright, well, see ya later." And with that he headed out.

Edward and I finished eating in silence. He took my dishes and rinsed them with his before putting them in the dishwasher.

We made our way back to the cabins.

"See you later," I said as we reached the point of going our separate ways. He nodded, then took off. I made my way into the cabin and was immediately accosted by Rosalie.

"Hot date?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"God, what is with you people?" I said, shaking my head. "A trip to the ER is hardly a hot date."

"What do you mean 'you people?'" Rose asked.

"Emmett asked the same thing down in the kitchen. By the way, he's invited us all to join them at the campfire for s'mores and stuff."

"Ooh, that'll be fun!" Alice squealed, bouncing around and clapping like a seal. The girl had way too much energy.

"No way," Rosalie said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I am not dealing with him anymore today."

"We don't have to stay long," I tried convincing her.

"He's really not that bad once you get to know him better, Rosalie," Kate added.

"Fine," she relented. "But if he sticks his foot in his mouth again, I'm leaving."

The six of us headed out to join the guys. I looked around a bit as we approached. Peter and Jasper, in their ever-present cowboy hats, were feeding the fire. Emmett was at one of the tables setting out the s'mores stuff, Edward was sitting tuning his guitar, and a number of other people were sitting around chatting.

Alice and I followed Rose, who again chose to sit as far from Emmett as humanly possible. The other three went and joined the lifeguards. I had a feeling Tanya would have sat in Edward's lap if the guitar hadn't been in the way.

We were enjoying the evening, singing along with the songs we knew, faking our way through the chorus on the ones we didn't, laughing at the nonsensical lyrics of some of them. Even Rosalie seemed to be relaxing a bit.

After a bit, Alice got up and came back with a small stash of marshmallows, graham crackers, Hershey bars, and roasting forks. We speared our marshmallows and put them into the fire. While it was roasting, my eyes wandered around the group, stopping when Jasper's marshmallow ritual caught my eye.

Jasper pulled his marshmallow out of the fire and up to his face, inspecting its doneness. Deciding it was ready, he pinched it between his thumb and finger, slid the cooked outer layer off the stick, and pulled the golden brown shell into his mouth with his tongue. He closed his eyes as the sugary treat dissolved, a blissful smile upon his face. He opened his eyes before returning the remaining bit of marshmallow to the fire. He patiently cooked it to perfection and once again removed the outer shell. I glanced over at Alice. She was transfixed by Jasper's display, and I saw her lick her lips as his tongue reached out to grab the bit of marshmallow in his fingers. Not having enough marshmallow left to repeat the process, he pulled the gooey center off the stick and brought his hand to his mouth. He separated his thumb from the sticky mass, and used his teeth to scrape the sugary confection off his finger. I looked at Alice again. She was gone – her eyes glazed, her breathing shallow, her marshmallow completely forgotten. Jasper sucked the remaining marshmallow off his thumb. Alice's marshmallow was well done by now and slipped off the fork into the fire.

"Alice, you lost your marshmallow," I said, nudging her out of her trance. I pulled mine out and assembled my s'more.

"Oh!" she said in startled voice. "I knew we'd need extras." I looked over to see a smirk on Jasper's lips.

Rose just rolled her eyes as she took a bite of her s'more.

I couldn't stop yawning. I glanced at my watch – it was later than I expected. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, so I asked the girls if they were ready to go. We said good night to the group and headed back to the cabin. I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

* * *

**Thanks to lambcullen, MaleficentKnits, and Feisty Y Beden for betaing this chapter for me. Also thanks to twowackykids for helping me with my questions about Bella's injury. And love to the UU girls and everyone else who's put this on alert and reviewed.  
**

**So, how do you prefer your s'mores/marshmallows?  
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	4. the wranglers that they give you

**As usual, don't own. Thanks to M, I do own _Monster De Lux_.**

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Sleep last night was elusive at best. Despite the prescription Dr. Cullen had given me, I still woke up frequently from the pain in my finger.

I couldn't get the image of Edward and Tanya out of my head. It was driving me mad. I wasn't really sure why it bothered me so much. I couldn't figure him out – one minute he was irritated with me, the next he was being helpful. I mean, yeah, he was good looking – lord knows I had a hard time keeping my eyes off him our first day. But it wasn't like he was the only good looking guy here – not by a long shot. So why did it bother me so much to see him with Tanya?

I resolved to stop obsessing over him. It wasn't doing me any good. Besides, I liked Tanya – I didn't feel as close to her as I did to Rosalie and Alice, but I would consider her a friend. More so than Lauren, at any rate. Pining over her boyfriend certainly wouldn't help matters any.

I finally managed to fall back asleep, only to be awakened by Rosalie's alarm clock blaring. Figures.

The six of us begrudgingly got up and headed to the girls' shower house. My splinted finger didn't pose too much of a problem – washing my hair was rather awkward though. After rinsing all the soap away, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my hair, then grabbed a second towel and wrapped it around my body. I gathered up my shower stuff and headed out to the changing area.

We were heading out to the ranch after breakfast today, so all of us were dressing in jeans and t-shirts. After we were dressed, Alice brushed out my hair. Rosalie headed to the mirrors, hair dryer in hand.

"Um, Rosalie," Kate started, hesitantly.

"Yeah, Kate?"

"You, uh, don't expect to have time to dry your hair with that all summer, do you?" she asked. This wasn't the first time Rosalie had taken the time to blow dry her hair. It was also why no one expected Rosalie to last long – high maintenance didn't really work with the camp schedule. At least, that's what Jessica and Angela told me.

"Oh, no. I'm just using it now because we have time. I know things will be crazy once the campers arrive," she assured her. "But thanks for the heads up."

Rose resumed the drying of her hair. Alice offered to braid my hair, since the forecast predicted it'd be windy today. She worked my hair into two loose braids at the nape of my neck.

"So, Bella," Tanya started. "What were you dreaming about the other night?"

That startled me. "What do you mean?"

"You were talking in your sleep." _Oh, god! Was I really? Shit, I forgot about that habit._ "Sounded like it must have been something pretty good," she said, raising her eyebrows suggestively. I felt the blush starting.

"Um, sorry, I don't really remember my dreams much after I wake up." Okay, so I remembered exactly what I had been dreaming about the other night, but I really didn't want to discuss it right now.

Thankfully, we were pretty much done getting ready, so the subject was dropped. We headed in to breakfast, sitting together at one of the tables. A few seconds later, I felt an arm around my shoulders as someone sat in the empty seat on my right. _Fucking Newton._ I was about to shove his arm off me, when I realized I was being pulled into a sort of half hug. Wait a second, Newton never did that. I looked over to see Emmett grinning at me.

"Hey, Bella baby." He released me from the hug. "So, did you have fun last night?" A second later, Edward and a few other guys joined our table.

"Yeah, thanks for inviting us. You doing it again tonight?"

"Ah, no," he said, giving Edward a "don't say anything" look. "We've, uh, got something else to do tonight." He seemed a bit nervous.

"Oh, that's too bad. It definitely put me in a better mood."

"A better mood? What did Eddie boy do to you on that hot date last night?" He had such a devilish look in his eyes, I could tell he was just giving Edward shit. I playfully smacked him in the arm anyway.

"Fuck you, Emmett," we heard from the other end of the table.

"Any time you want to, bro," Emmett couldn't help himself. Edward glared at Emmett, then ignored him and started talking to Tanya.

"I think you pissed him off, Emmett," I said, nudging his shoulder.

"Eh, he'll get over it soon enough. Hey, how's your finger by the way?"

"Alright so far. Still sore. I'm just glad it was my left hand so I can still function. Where's Jasper? Isn't he usually with you guys?"

"Yeah, usually. They're out getting the horses ready for us. You ride?"

"Yeah, a few times when I was a kid. Renee made me take lessons with her."

"Ah, so you're a pro then?" He flashed his dimpled smile at me.

"Ha ha, no, not by a long shot. The lessons didn't last long. My mom had a new hobby practically every month."

We ended up spending the rest of breakfast getting to know each other better. We talked about school, our families and where we grew up. I learned that he was attending Loyola in Chicago to study Criminal Justice. He worked as a lifeguard at the YMCA during the year – well, that explained his awesome body. He loved working at camp and the Y because of the kids; it reminded him of his family – he was the youngest of eight kids. I couldn't imagine. He couldn't imagine being an only child, and I told him about Jake and the pack who were like brothers to me and how weird it was to be away from them this summer.

It was great talking to him. There was no weirdness, no hidden agenda like I often felt with Mike. And while he was definitely good looking, I didn't feel attracted to him in that way.

After breakfast was cleaned up, we stayed in the lodge while Peter and Charlotte gave us an overview of the rules for the ranch area and told us about the various programs we had for the campers, depending on what program they'd signed up for. There were fifteen horses on site – enough for a cabin to ride together, counselors included. The wranglers had their own horses here as well. Once we reached the ranch, Peter and Charlotte gave us a quick tour of the barns, showing us where the horses were kept, where grooming took place, and then lead us to the helmet room and showed us how they should fit and how to adjust them. After we had our helmets, we headed towards the main barn. There were a few barn cats about, and I also noticed a pot-bellied pig rooting for something near the front side of the barn.

At that moment, Jasper came around the side, and my breath caught. I heard Alice let out a small whimper next to me. I took him in slowly. He was wearing his usual cowboy boots – brown today. His jeans were well fitted and hung low, exposing the V at his hips. My gaze lingered there, pondering whether or not he was going commando considering how low his jeans were.

My eyes were pulled to the thin trail of hair just above his belt buckle and moved slowly up his bare stomach. _Mmmm... Happy trails...Damn, now I've got that stupid song in my head. _ His shirtless torso had a light sheen of sweat, highlighting the well-toned muscles of his abs, chest, and arms. He had a number of scars – most I guessed were from working with the horses. There was a horseshoe-shaped one though on his left side between his shoulder and neck; I couldn't tell if it was a scar or a tattoo. His ever-present cowboy hat was tipped low, shielding his eyes. Damn, Alice was right - apparently I did have a thing for cowboys. Looks like she did too.

After giving the pig a few affectionate scratches on its head, he headed into the barn and reemerged with a shirt in his hands. He removed his hat, and for the first time I really noticed his hair. The ends were dark, which I'd noticed before, but the roots were blond. The sun was reflecting off it, making it glow almost like he had a halo. I wondered what possessed him to dye it in the first place.

I heard Alice make a slight moan as he quickly put his shirt on, his muscles rippling with the movement. He then donned his hat and made his way over to the group.

"Oh, give it up, you two," Rosalie hissed at us. Alice and I glared at her.

We had a moment, so my thoughts wandered to where I would want my campers to spend more time – the waterfront or the ranch. Either would be ideal. I didn't get to think about it long enough to make a decision when we were asked to count off by threes. We would be taking a short trail ride in shifts so we could get a taste of what the ranch program would be like for the campers and if we'd want to work with those programs over the summer.

The first group, which included Rosalie, headed over to the horses with the Wranglers.

The rest of us sat in the shaded grass near the lesson ring. Someone started a game that we could play with campers during moments of wait time like this. We were introduced to "Miss Sally" and told that "Miss Sally likes doors, but not windows."

"Miss Sally likes Emmett, but not Edward," Tanya told us. Edward pouted a bit at that, and she nudged his shoulder affectionately to try to appease him. She was right.

"Miss Sally likes ice cream, but not cake," Makenna tried. That was wrong.

We continued taking turns, some people knowing, and others getting it wrong.

Emmett contributed "Miss Sally likes pussy, but not dick," which earned him a few groans, a few giggles, and a punch in the arm from Garrett and me.

"Geez, Emmett, do you always have to be so crude?" Edward griped.

"What? It was a good example!" he replied in mock outrage. Edward just rolled his eyes.

The game continued then, until most everyone had it figured out.

We could see the first group was returning. Charlotte came over and asked the next group, which included Emmett, Alice, and myself, to head over. She had us wait along one of the post and rail fences while the first group returned their horses and dismounted.

"How was the ride?" Alice asked Rosalie as she passed.

"I'll die happy if I never have to ride a horse again," she said, as she removed her helmet and shook out her hair.

The Wranglers assigned us our horses and led us over, reminding us the proper way to mount.

Peter was assisting me, while Emmett mounted on his own with no problems.

"D'ya need a hand, miss?" I heard Jasper asking Alice. Tiny as she was, I would have been surprised if she didn't.

"Why thank you, sir," Alice said, going all Southern belle again.

"My pleasure," he replied, carefully grabbing her waist and assisting her into the saddle. He then took her hand in his and kissed it before handing her the reins. "Enjoy the ride," he said, winking and flashing her a brilliant smile that nearly knocked me off my horse.

I looked over at Emmett – he was looking at Jasper incredulously. I could tell he was fighting hard to keep from giving Jasper shit about it, but he actually managed to keep his mouth shut for once. It was possible that for the first time in his life (certainly since I'd known him), he realized that now was not the time. I was going to have to ask him about it later.

A few minutes later, everyone was on their horses, and we were on our way. We wound our way through the woods and fields of camp, and I lost myself in the natural beauty of the area. It wasn't as green as Washington, but it was still beautiful. I could definitely get lost in my thoughts out here.

We returned about half an hour later, and after dismounting, I pulled Emmett aside.

"So, is Jasper always like that?" I asked, looking back to see Jasper helping Alice down from her horse.

"Well, he is from Texas, so yeah, he's a good ol' Southern boy. But it's been awhile since I've seen him pull it out full force like that. Wish he would more often - we'd have no problems getting girls while we're at the bars." He winked as he said the last bit.

While we waited for Alice, I noticed that the pig was now rooting around near the fence we were leaning on.

"Emmett, why is there a pig at camp?" He'd been here a few years; I figured he'd know.

"Oh, that's Hammy. He's Jasper's pet."

"Hammy? Seriously?"

"Well, Major Hamilton. Jas usually just calls him Major though."

"Jasper has a pet pig?"

"Yeah. He's really sweet. I never would have thought of keeping a pig as a pet, but he's actually pretty cool."

Huh. Alice had joined up with us by then, so we returned to the main group, passing the final group on their way to the horses.

We returned to the main group to find they were playing a new game – Crossed or Uncrossed. We joined the circle, and they quickly explained the game. We were passing two sticks around. You could position them however you wanted, then as you handed them over to the next person you had to tell if the sticks were crossed or uncrossed. I watched as they were passed person to person. It seemed completely arbitrary whether they were crossed or not. We'd gone around the circle a couple times, and I was still pretty clueless. I wasn't the only one.

I felt Emmett, who was sitting cross-legged on my left, elbow me to get my attention. He accepted the sticks from Jessica, then somewhat subtly shifted position so he was sitting with his knees up and feet separated, leaning forward a bit and resting his arms on them. He handed the sticks to me.

"Uncrossed," he said, laughing at the expression on my face. It had suddenly clicked. We continued passing the sticks a while longer. As the game went on, some people became blatantly obvious in shifting their position until everyone figured it out.

The third group returned from their trail ride, and we headed back to the lodge to get out of the sun while we discussed the rules for campers before lunch.

After the discussion, we headed into the bathrooms to wash up for lunch. On the way out, Jessica practically attacked me.

"Mail's here!" She was way too excited about this. I must have looked perplexed, because she said, "Don't look at me like that." I honestly couldn't figure out why she was so thrilled. "Bella, come on! You've got a letter!"

I took off towards the mailboxes in the staff room with Jess at my heels. Sure enough, I had a letter from Washington. I ripped open the envelope as we headed back and sat at a table, not really paying much attention to the conversation around me as I read:

_Hey Bells!_

_How's it going out there in Wisconsin? _

_Charlie's been down here a lot. I know, you never would have guessed that. I think he misses having you around too._

_Not much else is new. We're doing the usual, though it is kind of weird without you here to pick on. Seth's getting the brunt of it with you gone, poor kid. And the Sam, Leah, Emily drama is starting to calm down. Thank god. I didn't think we'd ever hear the end of that._

_Anyway, hope you're having fun out there. Talk to you soon._

_Miss you._

_Jacob_

I was torn. I was happy to hear from Jake, but it also made me a bit homesick. Poor Seth. I hoped he was taking it well. I was quiet the rest of lunch. Emmett noticed, but didn't say anything.

The afternoon was kind of boring. We split into groups and talked about the characteristics of campers at various ages, then discussed how to deal with homesickness. Ugh. Of all the topics to deal with today. I felt like I could be the poster child for homesickness, which didn't help my mood much. We did some role playing though, and Emmett being a counselor to Jasper as a homesick camper was absolutely hilarious.

We had a little bit of free time before dinner, so I sent Jake a quick text to let him know I got his letter, and I'd try to call him in a couple days.

I made my way back to the dining hall and sat next to Emmett. I noticed Edward wasn't there. Which I couldn't stop thinking about. _So much for not obsessing over him._ Well, at least I had been distracted most of the day. Emmett noticed the shift in my mood and asked what was up. I told him about how getting the letter today had made me kind of homesick. I didn't realize how much I'd miss being away from my dad and the pack this summer. Emmett gave me a quick hug and told me he'd keep me entertained, which made me smile. I had no doubt of that.

After dinner, we continued with the staff-led activities from the night before. Then we were free for the night. I sat outside on the porch of our cabin with the rest of the girls. I tried knitting some more on the scarf while we chatted, but didn't get very far. Stupid sprained finger made my knitting awkward and slow, though thankfully not impossible. Eventually the mosquitoes became unbearable, and we headed inside. I fell asleep listening to Alice and Rosalie discussing their plans for their dorm room in the fall.

----

"Bella." I felt someone shaking my shoulder. How long had I been asleep?

"Bella, wake-up."

"Wha-?"

"Come on, Bella, let's go."

"Go where, Alice? What time is it?"

"Time to have some fun."

I sat up. Everyone else was getting up too.

"Alice says we all need to get down to the lake. You know how she is," Rosalie told me. "You don't bet against her," she said with a shrug.

"We're going down to the lake?" Tanya asked Alice.

"Yup!" She was positively vibrating with excitement. Tanya got a devilish look in her eye as she realized what was going on. If only she would enlighten the rest of us.

"Well, if you plan on going in, I'd forego the undergarments," she said.

"Less to deal with if we need to get out in a hurry," Kate added as she too realized what we were going to find at the lake.

"You guys done this before?" Rose asked, eyebrow raised.

"Of course." She shrugged. "Rite of passage as staff, especially if you're a lifeguard. The important thing is to keep it quiet and don't get caught. The directors look the other way about it as long as we don't get into any trouble with the lake police."

By this time, the six of us were ready to go, so we quietly made our way down to the lake – which was quite the feat with Alice along.

As we got closer, I could make out six shadowy torsos in the lake.

"Wait," Kate whispered. She motioned us to the side of the tree-lined trail so we'd be out of sight.

"Who's down there?" Irina asked.

"Obviously Emmett," I stated, getting looks from all of them. "What? He was all secretive about their plans at breakfast. I'm guessing Edward's down there too?" I asked, looking to Tanya. She looked, then nodded. "Yup, Edward and Emmett." She looked again. "I'm guessing the others are the rest of their cabin – Jasper, Riley, Peter, and Garrett?" Irina nodded, confirming her guess.

We watched them for a moment. They didn't seem to have noticed we were there.

"Shall we go in?" Rosalie asked, tired of waiting. Kate and Tanya were whispering to each other about something.

"We could… or you could steal their clothes and see if they give chase." They had a look on their faces that said "I dare you."

Rose took the bait, obviously pleased at the idea of getting to see them in their full glory. "What's the plan?"

They pointed to the guys clothes on the beach. "We run out, each grab a pair of shorts, and keep on running. Catcalls optional." She winked.

"All right, let's go," Alice said. Irina and I nodded that we were in too.

We ran out, grabbed the first pair of shorts we came upon, then scattered and ran off in different directions. The guys splashed their way out of the water and came running after us. It didn't take long before Edward had caught up with Rosalie. Damn, that boy was quick. And an eyeful. Definitely more than a mouthful. _Oh, god, did I really just think that?!_

A moment later, I shrieked – I'd been caught up in a bear hug from behind by Emmett. I could hear Alice giggling in the distance as she was caught.

"So I'm guessing this was the super-secret plan you didn't want Edward to mention this morning?"

"Alright, you caught us!" Emmett laughed. I could feel him against my back. "Like what you see?" he whispered in my ear, having noticed my gaze fixed on the other guys.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I said softly, thankful that the dark was hiding my blushing. "Who's got you all hot and bothered?" I whispered back.

"Ha ha. I'm sure you already know. God, I screwed up with her the other day, didn't I?" He grabbed his shorts from my hands as he released me.

I gave him a second to get situated, then turned around. "Yeah, probably. Give her time. I'm sure she'll come around. That or you'll be tortured all summer." I gave him a wink.

"Hey, you girls should join us next time," he said with a grin.

"We'll think about it. Let us know when the next time is, okay?"

"Come on, Bella!" Kate called. I looked over and saw they had regrouped.

"Sweet dreams," I said to him with a smirk, before I headed off to join the girls. We had a hard time keeping quiet on the way back to our cabin. When we got inside, we all erupted into a fit of giggles.

"Did you see how big he was?!" Rosalie blurted a second later.

"I didn't get a good look with him behind me. Sure felt impressive though!" She glared at me. "You're not jealous I got to feel Emmett, are you Rosalie?" I was suddenly a bit scared for my life. "Honestly, I don't really care about him like that," I tried placating her. "He's like a big brother."

"Really, Rose. Calm down," Alice interjected. "Bella's not going to hook up with Emmett." She said this so absolutely, I could see Rosalie visibly relax. Alice rummaged in her bags a minute. "What about the other boys?" she giggled, tossing pixie sticks at us as we settled in for a night of gossip.

"Did you see Garrett?" Irina asked.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. "And Jasper?"

"I never fully appreciated the expression 'hung like a horse' before tonight!" Alice squealed, then dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"Welcome to camp, girls," Tanya said with a wink.

We continued discussing the boys until we fell asleep. And I had my own sweet dreams…

* * *

**Thanks again to lambcullen, MaleficentKnits, and Feisty Y Beden for betaing this chapter for me. Also thanks to MorganaL for chatting with me about Hammy. And love to the UU girls and everyone else who's put this on alert and reviewed.  
**

**Let me know what you think!**


	5. The Flicker of the Campfire

**As always, I do not own. I do have a small blue Maglite though.**

* * *

_I was on my way from my dorm to class. Except__…__campus looked nothing like it did in real life. But it was still school, I knew where I was going, and what I was doing. Everything was normal, despite the alternate universe. _

_I was in a hurry and wasn't really paying attention. I tripped over somebody's outstretched feet as I made my way through the lobby of our building. I mentally prepared myself for the embarrassment and the pain I'd feel when I hit the floor, but it never came. Someone had caught me. _

_He helped me regain my balance, and I looked at him. All I wanted to do was run my fingers through his hair, but that seemed a bit forward._

"_Sorry," he muttered, his eyes downcast behind his glasses. _

_I shrugged. "No big deal - no damage. You ready to go to class?"_

"_No." He grabbed my hand, and I followed him into one of the practice rooms. He closed the door and pulled me close. I was pressed tight against him and could feel every inch of him as he pressed his lips to mine. His lips pulled away too soon. _

"I want you," I whispered.

"_I know. But we'll be late to class if we don't get going."_

"_I don't care!" __M__y lips found his again._

_There was a knocking on the door, but we both ignored it._

It didn't stop.

_What is that noise?_

I opened my eyes and tried to adjust to the light. I heard someone muttering curses near the door.

"Kate?"

"Sorry, Bella. Didn't mean to wake you."

"What's wrong?"

"Damn door won't open." Ah, so that's what the knocking was.

"What d'you mean it won't open?" I mumbled, my voice still thick with sleep. I moved to get up to help her with it, but was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. I looked in its direction to see a pot-bellied pig rooting around in Rosalie's hair.

"What! The! Fuck! Why the fuck is there a fuckin' pig in our fuckin' cabin eating my fuckin' face?!"

Of course, this woke up the rest of the cabin. Hell, it probably woke up the entire camp.

Irina and Tanya quickly climbed onto their upper bunks and tucked their feet under them. Kate scurried to the nearest bed and did the same. I swear you'd think there was a mouse in the cabin the way they were reacting.

"Oh, chill Rose. It's just Major." I tried to soothe her, walking over. I crouched down and held my hand out to lure him away from Rosalie's wrath.

"_Here Major. Come here. That's a good wittle piggy-poo. Yeah, you're just a sweet little guy, aren't you?"_ I cooed, scratching his head when he got close. Rose looked at me in disgust. Aw, shit. I was using that annoying voice people use with pets and babies. Ah, well. Major was cute, and I wanted to spare him Rosalie's wrath. Whoever trapped him in here probably wouldn't be so lucky.

While I was distracting him, Alice had gone over to the door and tried to get it open. When that failed, she made her way to the window by Irina's bed. The two of them were working to get it open so we could get out when there was a knock at the door.

"Who's there?" Alice called out in a voice way too perky for this time of the morning. _What the heck Alice?_ She had to be able to see who was out there, didn't she?

"Hey Pixie Stick. You girls are up early." Hm. I knew that voice. "Did I hear a damsel in distress?" I heard him ask. Well, this will be interesting.

"Well, Emmett, I'm not sure if I'd call her a damsel at this point," Alice giggled. "You mind getting our door open?"

"Oh, sure. It looks like somebody tied it shut out here. Let me just… There," he swung the door open and stepped inside, looking like he'd just rolled out of bed in his SpongeBob pajama pants and wife beater. He laughed as he looked around and saw how we were reacting.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?" Rose had flown at him. "That fuckin' pig was fuckin' eating my face," she said poking him in the chest every couple of words for emphasis. "It's not fuckin' funny."

Emmett held his hands up in defeat. "Whoa, baby. Calm down. I had nothing to do with it."

"Don't fuckin' 'baby' me, Emmett McCarty. I don't believe a word of that. I know that's Jasper's pig, I know you're best friends and roommates, and I know you were involved in this somehow."

At that moment, we heard footsteps on the porch. Two heads poked in.

"Ah, Major! There you are." Jasper, who also hadn't bothered to get ready for the day, walked over and crouched down next to me in front of his pet. "Major Hamilton the Fifth." I tried not to laugh at the sternness in his voice."What are you doing in here with the ladies?" Major just looked at him. "Did their screeching frighten my poor widdle soldier?" Oh, good, I wasn't the only one - he was using the pet voice too.

I realized the second person hadn't moved or said anything. I looked towards the door and my eyes traveled up a pair of plaid pajama pants and over a fitted white t-shirt to meet the bespectacled eyes that were fixed on me, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his lips. He reminded me of someone I knew. Damn, I wish I could remember who.

"Did you need something Edward?" Tanya asked sweetly, still not moving from her bed.

"Huh?" His hand went into his hair at the back of his neck. _Mmm. I'd like to nibble along his neck. _"Oh, just helping Jasper look for Major," he said absently, his gaze still on me.

"Well, you've found it. I suggest the four of you leave now, if you know what's good for you," Rosalie threatened.

"Thanks, darlin'," Jasper said to me, flashing that same smile I saw him give Alice yesterday. _These boys are going to be the death of me, I swear. _He gave me a wink as he clipped a leash onto Major's harness, and the guys made their way out of the cabin.

"Wow, I never met anyone who didn't like Bacon," Emmett commented on his way out.

"Jesus, Emmett. Pot bellied pigs aren't used for bacon. Can't you just call him Major like the rest of us?"

"Seriously dude. You need to get laid. Your whiney bitch attitude is getting on my nerves."

"Give him a break, Em. If he doesn't sort himself out by tomorrow…" Jasper was saying, but by that time they were far enough away I couldn't hear the rest of the conversation.

Tanya, Irina, and Kate disappeared soon after that – Emmett had some lifeguard training scheduled in before breakfast.

It was still quite early, so we took our time getting ready.

"So we're even then, right?" I wondered aloud. "We got them, and they got us back."

"Oh, no." Rosalie had a devilish look in her eyes. "This means war."

-----

We headed in to breakfast, all of us avoiding the boys. Emmett looked a bit hopeful that we'd join them. I would have, but Rose shot me a glare, so I just shrugged apologetically at him.

Possibly against my better judgment, I sat with Jessica and crew because I wanted to catch up with Angela.

"You guys were awfully loud last night, Bella. What were you doing?" Jess asked as soon as I sat down. _Yup, this definitely was a bad idea._

"Didn't you hear what we were saying?"

"No, just the obnoxious giggling." She looked at me pointedly, waiting for me to spill the details.

"Oh, we just went for a late night walk around camp." _And saw some amazing sights. _Ah, shit. Cue the blushing. Maybe she wouldn't notice.

"And…" _Damn, she'd noticed._

"And I'm not talking about it here," I hissed quietly. Like hell I wanted Mike and the guys to hear. Though maybe they already knew. Who knew what the guys talked about?

"So what was all the screaming and shouting this morning?" God, how on earth did I forget how much of a gossip she was?

"Axe murderers," I stated simply.

"Really?! Oh my god! How can you sit there so calmly?" That outburst distracted Angela from Ben momentarily. I rolled my eyes, and she laughed. Jess never quite got my sense of humor, which made it even funnier to us.

"No! We just had Major trouble."

"You're not going to tell us about that either, I suppose," she whined.

"No, I mean we had trouble with Major this morning." She just gave me a blank stare. "You know, the pig out at the ranch?"

"Wait, what happened with the pig? Is it okay?" Angela asked.

"Yeah, the pig's fine, but I think the guys are lucky Rosalie didn't rip their balls off right then and there." I noticed that made Mike and Tyler squirm in their seats.

"Why would she want to do that?" Mike asked, still looking uncomfortable.

"The guys trapped the pig in our cabin, though of course they claim innocence. Rose freaked when she woke up."

"She's never going to survive the summer," Jess stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, come off it Jess. Like you wouldn't have flipped your shit if you woke up with a pig in your face."

"I guess." With the gossip session over, she turned her attention to flirting with Mike, who was completely oblivious, unfortunately.

I glanced over at the guys. I still couldn't figure out who Edward reminded me of. This was going to drive me nuts. Maybe he had a brother? I suppose that was a possibility. I managed to not stare at him the rest of the meal, though I did continue glancing over occasionally.

After breakfast, we headed outside since the weather was so nice. We were going to be going over cook-outs and outdoor skills this morning, then preparing for our group overnights in the afternoon.

Discussion of the cook-outs was pretty boring. We were to cook at least two of our meals every week. Wednesday dinner was mandatory – so the kitchen staff could get a break – but we got to choose the other meal. And much to a few people's chagrin, s'mores were not considered a meal. We could cook whatever we (and the campers) wanted as long as we requested the food early enough.

After that, we were split into four groups to go over outdoor skills. We headed off to our first station, where I was pleased to discover Jasper and Emmett were in my group.

"Bella!" Emmett called as he crushed me into a hug.

"Ah! Em, get off! Do you want Rosalie killing us both?"

"Right, sorry."

Garrett started going over knots with the group, but the guys and I were only half paying attention.

"So, whose idea was it?"

"Edward's," they both said, a little too quickly.

"Seriously? That boy wouldn't know fun if it bit him in the ass." _I wouldn't mind biting him in the ass. Damn it! _

"You don't know him, Bella," Jasper said. "He was actually pretty mortified after that little stunt you girls pulled last night."

"I don't know why. You guys have nothing to be ashamed of." _Fuck, where did my filter go?_ I could feel my cheeks turning bright red. I refocused on the stupid knots we were supposed to be working on.

Jasper chuckled. "Well, thank you Bella."

"Good thing Eddie's not here. I think he'd die of embarrassment."

"Really? I thought guys liked having their egos stroked."

"That's not all we like having stroked," Emmett shot back. Jas and I both smacked him for that.

"You're terrible. So really, it was Edward's idea?"

"Well, he was the one that thought we should get you girls back. Using Hammy was Jas's idea."

"Really, Jas?"

"Yeah. Most people don't find pigs cute, even though they're pretty harmless. Thought it'd be fun to see how you girls would react."

By this time we were done working the knots and were moving on to the next station, which, somewhat ironically, was how to safely use jackknives.

"And did you expect to have Rosalie threatening your manhood?" I asked, as I carefully opened my knife, which would have been a helluva lot easier if my finger wasn't still splinted.

"Ah, no. And thanks for taking care of Major. I really appreciate it, Bella."

"No problem, Jas. He's too cute to sacrifice to Rosalie's wrath. Emmett, on the other hand…"

"Oh, I agree." He chuckled. "Why do you think we sent him in first to check on you?"

"Hey! Since when did I become the sacrificial lamb?" Emmett replied in mock outrage.

"Since you're the one who's absolutely smitten with the lioness. I don't know why you haven't manned up and asked her to come out with us this weekend yet," Jasper goaded him.

"Oh, like hell she'd say yes. We're always fighting. No way she's into me."

"Foreplay," I said simply. They both looked at me.

"That's absurd."

"Is it?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. "Fighting with her doesn't get you going? It's like that movie with the hockey player turned ice skater."

"You mean the 'toe pick' movie?" Emmett asked.

"Yup, that's the one. Seriously, Jas is right. Just ask her. Though you might want to wait and be sure she's unarmed. Unless you're into that sort of thing…"

We folded up our knives and handed them back to Siobhan, then headed to the next area where James showed us how to use the compasses and sent us off to practice with them.

"So you said I don't know Edward… What did you mean by that?"

"Well," Jasper asked, as we headed off, compass and directions in hand, "what do you know of him so far?"

"Hmmm, not much, actually. He barely said two words when we he took me in to see his uncle."

"Really?" The boys exchanged a glance. "That's not like him. Usually he doesn't shut up."

"Well, when he's not being a moody bitch," Emmett amended. Jasper smacked him. "Dude, don't mess up the compass. We'll get lost."

"In the middle of an open field?" Jasper quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Whatever man. Point is Bella, Edward's complicated. You need to get to know him better."

"Oh, man, you better not start in with the onion analogies," I warned him. We'd reached our destination and headed back to our starting point.

"I didn't say he was an ogre," Emmett defended himself.

"Mostly he's just over-stressed," Japer jumped in. "His schedule last year was pretty brutal, among other things."

It didn't sound like he was going to elaborate anymore, and I didn't know what to say to that, so I changed the subject.

"So is there always a good prank war going every summer?"

"Not necessarily a war," Emmett started. "But there are a lot of random pranks throughout the summer. You never know who's going to get hit or when."

"The directors don't care as long as it stays mostly harmless," Jas chimed in.

Our final activity before lunch was fire building.

"Dang, Bella, you're good. I didn't realize you were such a nature girl," Jasper complimented when I got our mini fire going with the first match.

"Lots of beachside campfires on The Res," I explained with a shrug.

--------------

I sat with Angela and Jess again at lunch; it felt like forever since I'd seen them, even though in reality it had only been since breakfast. Camp was really messing with my sense of time…I swear, a day felt like a week.

Ang and I were talking when Jess interrupted.

"Edward Masen is staring at you," she informed me. Shit, was he really? Did I want to look? Hell, yes, but I didn't want to look pathetic or anything.

"Edward Masen? Are you sure it's not a different Edward?"

"Huh?" Clearly my sarcasm was lost on her. I could see Angela holding in a laugh.

"Well, really Jess, is it necessary to say his last name? He's the only Edward here. Do you have a thing for him? I thought you liked Mike." Her eyes widened at that. Eh, if I'm playing matchmaker today, might as well go all out. Her fears were unfounded though; Mike was completely absorbed in his conversation with Eric and Tyler about the latest White Sox game.

"Sorry," I whispered. "So, wait a minute. How come you haven't pursued things with him?" I asked, gesturing at Mike with my eyes.

"I dunno. He just seems so… oblivious."

"Have you tried being direct?"

"What?!"

"You know, asked him out yourself? Maybe he just needs to be hit over the head with a clue-by-four, you know?" God, what I wouldn't give to knock some sense into him. Get his focus off of me.

"Well, I dunno. I've never had to ask a guy before." She looked down at her chest, as if signifying that her boobs usually did all the work.

"Well, think about it. You know I don't care about him as anything more than a friend." She nodded, and we let the subject go.

After lunch we headed back outside to discuss the rest of the day's activities: overnights. All but the youngest campers were expected to spend one night tent camping, so we were being split into three groups and heading out to experience it ourselves tonight.

The main discussion – what to pack, etc. – was done with the whole group. Then we were told if we were in group A, B, or C based on which bunk we were in. The disappointment of having Lauren in my group was lessened when I realized that Irina and Jasper were as well. At least the next 24 hours or so wouldn't completely suck. And there was the campfire to look forward to tonight with all three groups together.

So we planned our meals, gathered our personal gear, loaded the group gear (tents, tarps, food, and cooking equipment) into a couple of carts, and headed off to the overnight sites.

I spent most of the hike playing twenty questions with Jasper – getting to know about his family in Texas (he has a younger sister and his parents are still together), why he wanted to go to school in Chicago (why not?), and the story behind his hair (he lost a bet to Emmett, and the terms of the bet prevent him from re-dyeing it or shaving his head). He also assured me that he and Emmett were not _together_ together as Jessica thought, but he also didn't care enough about the rumor to tell her otherwise.

As we set up our tents and prepared dinner, the returning staff told us about some of the staff overnight traditions. The first was naming our group (which had to start with our group letter) and creating a flag. Both had to be camper appropriate since the flags would be used throughout the summer during all-camp games of Capture the Flag and the occasional prank. We came up with the name "Aardvark Awareness Association." A bit ridiculous, no? I didn't come up with it, but I didn't have any better suggestions either, so there you go.

We were making pudgy pie pizzas, so we cooked in shifts. I made mine just plain cheese, though I did snack on some of the raw pepperoni slices while waiting for it to cook.

Twice a couple of people from the other groups came by. They said they were just checking in to see how we were doing to guesstimate campfire time, but Jasper assured me it was a surveillance mission.

"At least one group gets pranked every year," he assured me.

"So have we sent our spies out?"

"You didn't notice that Garrett and Eric disappeared for awhile?"

"Uh, no, I guess not."

Once things were cleaned up and our garbage was safely put away, out of reach of the critters, we headed over to join the campfire. A picnic table nearby was set up with ingredients for s'mores, and there were a number of tarps set out for us to sit on so we wouldn't have to deal with the dewy grass. We headed over and joined Edward, Tanya, and Rose. Edward was tuning his guitar, and I noticed there was a second instrument case by him. Jas went to it and pulled out his banjo. _Ah, so that's who was playing that first night._

Rose and I chatted as the two of them played while we waited for the other group to show up. They both looked so content. Seeing Edward like this, I could tell that Jasper was right about him being stressed. Or maybe it was just because Tanya was here.

Finally the rest of them showed up, and Alice, Kate, and Emmett joined us.

Once everyone was situated, Marcus passed around a couple stacks of paper and some pens so we could get started on another staff campfire tradition: the fantasy game. We all wrote down a fantasy – whether true or made up – and passed them back to Marcus. He then read them all aloud, and then we had to match up the fantasy to the fantasizer. If you got it right, you 'collected' that person, so there was a lot of moving around as the game progressed. Jasper's fantasy was the only one that was obvious to me – he wants to run a horse-rescue ranch.

After everyone had been figured out, the guys pulled out their instruments again, leading us in the camp's favorite songs. Every few songs, Peter would tell us about the elusive snipes that were said to be found in the area. He told us what to look for and what sound to make to catch them. Apparently tonight was a really good night to go out looking.

The campfire was over and we returned to our tents. Before everyone turned in for the night, Heidi called us together, and we headed into the woods.

"Where are we going?" Lauren asked.

"Weren't you paying attention during campfire at all?" Irina asked her. "We're going on the snipe hunt."

"Oh, I love Snape. I think I love Alan Rickman even more. He's absolutely perfect in that role," Jane commented. I had a hard time controlling my laughter.

"Think about it Jane. Why would Snape be in the woods at camp? She said a _snipe_ hunt. Nothing to do with Harry Potter," her twin Alec explained. I was thankful he was here. If I'd had to explain it, I'm sure I would have been a little too sarcastic, and I'm not sure how she would have taken that.

"Oh, right. I've been rereading _Half-Blood Prince_ before the movie comes out in a couple weeks. I must have Snape on the brain." Well, that I could understand.

We walked a little further before Heidi stopped us. "Alright, have a seat on the ground. Go ahead and turn on your flashlights, but remember not to shine them in anybody's eyes."

We settled onto the forest floor and waited. There were lots of individual conversations going on.

"Remember, they're more likely to show up if you're quiet," Maria told us. "But if you see one you have to make their call. Eric's really good at it."

We continued to sit in silence, the only change being the movement of our flashlights in the trees.

"I think I see one!" Lucy whispered loud enough for the group to hear.

"What are we looking for?" Garrett asked.

"This one's brown, but watch it closely. It'll look more grey if it's hit by the moonlight. You'll lose it if you don't keep your eye on it," she explained.

"Oh, yeah. I see it," Garrett said, catching on.

"Where?" I asked.

"In the branches above Lauren."

"She'd better hope nothing lands in her hair," Jasper whispered to me, causing me to shake with silent laughter.

"Ooh, watch it. It's coming down closer," Makenna said, following its movements closely.

"I don't see anything," Lauren complained.

"Well, be careful. Don't forget about the three claws Peter warned us about during campfire. They could take an eye out if you're not paying attention," Jasper warned her.

"I see it. It's coming closer," Laurent said, following it's movement.

"Yorkie, show 'em how it's done," Maria said.

Eric started making some really bizarre call. Our heads turned to follow it as it swooped in front of him. He leapt, arms out, then reached around and tackled it to the ground. We all followed his movements as he struggled a moment before his head turned sharply, following it as it got away from him.

"Damn," he cursed. "So close." He pushed himself up off the ground and returned to where he'd been sitting, looking somewhat dejected.

"Well, let's just wait a few more minutes and see if it returns," Heidi suggested.

We continued to sit, looking around the woods, our eyes following our flashlight beams.

Finally, Heidi told us there was nothing out here, and we headed back to our tents. I overheard Lauren asking someone if Eric got hurt at all when he almost caught the snipe. Jasper and Alec were feeding her some bull about how Eric's the best snipe hunter on staff, really laying it on thick. I can't believe she didn't see through them.

I realized I'd forgotten my Maglite out in the woods, so I borrowed Lucy's while I went back to get it.

"Get lost?" I heard someone ask. I spun around, not expecting anyone to be out here since our group had all gone back. I forgot the other two groups might be out here as well.

"No, just forgot my flashlight," I told him, holding Lucy's in my left hand and flipping and catching mine in my right.

"You shouldn't be wandering the woods alone. Mind if I walk back with you?" he asked. I nodded, and we headed out in silence.

A few steps later, I had a random thought.

"Edward, are you a twin?"

"What? Where'd that come from?"

"You look like someone I had a class with last year. I thought maybe you had a twin or something."

"Well, I'm a Gemini," he paused. I just looked at him. He shook his head, laughing a bit at his joke. "But, no, I'm an only child."

"Hmm." Well, that didn't help me figure out who he looked like.

We continued to make our way out of the woods. I caught my foot on the roots a couple of times, but he was always there to catch me.

We finally emerged back at my group's camp.

I turned to him. "Thanks, Edward."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground, causing his hair to fall in front of his eyes. I wanted to reach over and brush his hair out of his face so badly, but I managed to restrain myself. "Yeah." He looked up at me through his hair. It looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn't.

He turned suddenly and walked away. I crawled into my tent, more confused by him than before.

* * *

**Wow, sorry for the huge gap between updates. The next one shouldn't be so long of a wait - it's already written and just needs a little tweaking.**

**I'm heading out camping with some knitting friends (yes, knitting and camping go well together. you non-Knitters can stop laughing now) for a couple days, and I've been told that I better come back with lots of inspiration and chapters written. So, new chapter after Wednesday, since I'll be internet free at Devil's Lake in Wisconsin.  
**

**Oh, yes, thanks are in order... to ****lambcullen, MaleficentKnits, and ****adoraklutz ****for betaing this chapter for me. Additional thanks to MJRV who mentioned the pig prank in an interview. And also to NelsonSmandela for her help on the Snipe Hunt.**

**If I told you my birthday was last Tuesday, would that encourage you to review? ;)  
**


	6. When days are hot, when days are cold

**I still do not own. I do own many well-loved decks of cards.**

* * *

When I awoke the next morning, I _really _didn't want to get up. The weather had turned cool overnight, and I hated the idea of getting out of my sleeping bag. Sleeping on the ground wasn't the most comfortable, but it was better than being out in the cold.

After lying awake for awhile, I decided to finally get up. I fished around in my pillowcase for my toothbrush and toothpaste and quietly made my way out of the tent, careful not to wake up Irina or Lucy. _Holy shit!_ The ground was littered with last night's garbage. Note to self: make sure garbage is very secure from the critters in the future.

I grudgingly made my way up to the latrines that were shared by the overnight sites, still half-asleep. I set my things on the ledge above the sinks and held my breath as I went into one of the stalls. There was no chance I'd survive until we made it back down to main camp after breakfast.

I heard a rustling in the leaves outside. Considering I was surrounded by woods aside from the paths leading up here, I just assumed it was an animal. I stepped out of the stall and turned the water on, washing my hands quickly in the freezing water. I shook the water off my hands, then went about brushing my teeth.

I leaned over the sink to spit out my toothpaste and nearly had a heart attack when I stood up and saw a person in the mirror behind me.

"What the hell are you doing sneaking up on someone like that? You scared me half to death!" For the second morning in a row, I got to see Edward fresh out of bed and still in his pajamas. This time he wasn't wearing a shirt, and my eyes lingered on his bare chest. _Fuck. Me._ I focused my eyes back on his face.

"Sorry," he muttered, eyes downcast behind his glasses. "Didn't realize someone was up here this early."

I looked at him curiously. "When did you cut your hair?" We both froze. What on earth possessed me to ask him that? _Holy shit! No way. _I couldn't believe this. _Was he…? Shit._ Why hadn't I figured this out earlier?

"I dunno, a few months ago, maybe?" he finally answered, unaware of my sudden realization.

"Edward?" I turned to face him as he looked up at me. "Did you have biology with Professor Funk first semester?"

I noticed the corner of his lips twitch as if he wanted to smile but was fighting against it.

"Um, yeah. I did. Were we in the same class?" he asked, sounding disinterested.

_What the fuck?_ Yesterday he gives me shit for thinking he has a twin, today he acts like he doesn't know we've met before. His Jekyll and Hyde bullshit was really starting to piss me off.

"I think you know we were," I hissed at him. "I'll see you later." I stared at the ground, not wanting to look at him, before heading back to camp.

I was mostly calmed down when I got back, and I saw that Charles and Eric were up now too, and most of the garbage had been cleaned up.

"Critters?" I asked.

"Not entirely," Eric said. "It was put away last night, so they shouldn't have been able to get into it. _Someone_ was kind enough to come over and leave it out in the open."

"Do we know who did it?"

"Nope," he said. "But we'll figure it out and retaliate when the time is right."

After they were finished, we decided to get the fire going and started heating water and cooking breakfast. I was cool with this – I'd rather cook than clean up any day.

We were chatting the entire time. Charles had just returned from a semester abroad in Europe and was working at camp so he wouldn't be away from Makenna the whole summer. Awww, how sweet. Eric wasn't as bad as I first thought. I was very relieved to discover the resident geek had a girlfriend at home.

People slowly made their way out of the tents and were quite happy when they realized that breakfast was already under way. After Irina and Lucy were up, I popped back into the tent to get dressed and pack up my gear.

We had decided we wanted to get back to main camp early, hopefully giving us first dibs on the showers, so people started taking the tents down while breakfast cooked. I noticed Lauren and Jane were hanging back at the table, slowly drinking their coffee while everyone else did the work.

Eventually, everyone had eaten breakfast, the dishes were cleaned up, and we were ready to head back to camp. We were thrilled to discover that we managed to beat the other two groups back, so we quickly returned the tents and gear to where they needed to go, then made a beeline for our cabins and the showers.

I could have stayed in the shower all morning. I turned the knob and let the warm water flow over me, soothing my sore muscles.

"Alright, bitches, save some hot water for the rest of us."

"Chill out Rose, we haven't been in here that long!" I called back.

I quickly finished my shower, happy to not smell like a campfire anymore, then headed back to the cabin – we didn't have to be back to the lodge for a while. I unpacked my gear from last night and realized my toothbrush had disappeared. Shit. I had no clue if it got lost on the trail or if I left it somewhere.

After everyone had gathered back in the lodge, we discussed how things went on the overnight: what went well, what we would do differently, how things would be different with kids compared to staff.

We joined the guys for lunch again, since we had more or less called a truce after the whole Major incident. We were at one of the tables closest to the doors. Edward seemed to be in a better mood than he was this morning. He and Emmett were discussing things for the afternoon session on emergency procedures. I noticed he had been sneaking quick glances at me throughout lunch; he had been doing it during the overnight discussion as well. He caught my eye and gave me a sort of apologetic smile. I smiled back and gave a quick nod, trying to let him know we were okay.

I felt my cell phone buzzing in my pocket. I fished it out and glanced at the caller ID as I flipped it open.

"Jake!" My mouth broke into a huge grin. I was starting to forget that there was a world outside of camp, despite having received a letter from him earlier in the week.

"Hey Bells!" I heard as I got up, mouthing a quick "sorry" to the group before walking out toward the hall for a little privacy.

"What's up?"

"Eh, same old, same old. Well, minus you, of course. How are things there?"

"Um. Intense."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I feel like I'm on info overload, and we're barely halfway through the week."

"How much do you need to know? Isn't it just like babysitting in the woods?"

"Yeah, but there's more to it than that, you know. Our schedule is so jam-packed. I mean, I know most of what they're telling us, but it's still a lot to take in. Though at least now I remember everyone's name and know my way around camp."

"Wow."

"Yeah. And most of the staff here is great, but..." I started pacing the hall just outside the door.

"Aw, Bells. Who's giving you problems?"

I didn't want to get into the whole Jekyll and Hyde thing Edward had going on, especially with him still being in hearing range.

"The same two that I ranted about all school year," I said, my voice lower. Hopefully he would remember.

"Lauren and Mike are working there?" Ah, good. He did.

"Yeah. He still won't let up. Idiot doesn't get what "no" means. I'm tempted to throw myself at someone else on staff, but he probably _still_ wouldn't get it," I laughed.

"No, you're probably right. Don't do anything hasty."

"So back to you... What have you and the Pack been up to?"

"Like I said, the usual. Just hanging out. Oh, that reminds me. My dad said I could come out and visit you for a weekend."

I groaned.

"What?"

"Well, we barely get any time off. I don't think I would be much fun. You'd probably see more of me if you were a camper, even if you wouldn't be in my group," I joked.

"Oh, well that's a bummer."

"Yeah. Look Jake, I should probably go. It was great to hear from you though. You gonna call this weekend?" I asked as I headed back to the table.

"Sure, sure. I'll talk to you later Bells."

"Alright. And don't forget to write. I miss you."

"Miss you too. Bye."

"Bye." I closed my phone as I headed back to the group.

Everyone was still talking and eating, though Edward had slipped back into his Hyde persona. Great. I wondered what set him off now and tried to ignore him for the rest of lunch.

At the end of lunch, Emmett informed us that we would be getting wet, whether we wanted to or not, and advised us to dress appropriately.

The weather hadn't improved much since this morning, so I put on a pair of jeans over my swimsuit and grabbed my zippered hoodie since we would be outside for the next while.

We all gathered at the lake with our staff manuals and settled in for the discussion of how to handle emergencies at camp. We went over what the different signals were and how we would be alerted if there was a fire in camp, bad weather requiring that we take shelter, a lost camper, and other land-based emergencies. Part of the discussion also included how to handle the press, should an emergency bring them out to camp.

Emmett, who knew the drill by now, was not-so-subtly flirting with Rosalie every chance he could. Once she figured out that everything was spelled-out in the staff manual, she began to return the favor. God, I wish those two would hook up already. Edward just sat there quietly. Alice was sitting sideways and leaning against his arm as she doodled her mystery dream guy in her staff manual. I couldn't quite place why this was bothering me, but it was. So I was sitting there, stewing over how comfortable Alice and Edward were together and didn't notice that Mike was sidling up to me. Thankfully Jasper intervened, moving to my side, one leg behind my back, the other tucked between us. He made a note in my book, blocking Mike's lame attempts. I looked at the page.

_What's with you and Edward? _

I scowled at him and wrote back: _ No idea. Did you ask him? _

Not wanting to distract me too much, he waited until there was a break, then wrote again.

_Who were you talking to at lunch? _

_- Just one of my friends from Forks._

_Are you dating?_

_- Ha. He wishes. No, it'd be too weird._

During the next break between emergencies, he wrote again.

_What about the squid there?_ He gestured towards Newton. They were glaring at each other.

- _Definitely not. My, aren't you nosy. _I smiled to show him I wasn't upset.

_Sorry._

He put the pen away, but didn't change positions. I noticed him taking another glance over at Edward and Alice before sighing and leaning back on his hands.

Once we were done going over the land emergencies, Emmett, Edward, and the rest of the lifeguards got up to talk about water emergencies. We were reminded of how important the buddy system was, and how, even though we weren't lifeguards, we were still expected to be working while at the waterfront, keeping an eye on the campers. As much as he liked to have fun, Emmett took the waterfront seriously. He then had us get in the water and practice a couple lost swimmer drills, which we all hoped we would never actually have to do.

Once we were through with all that, we were given time to hang out at the lake. Since we were already wet, we decided we might as well stay in the water for a bit.

"Em, come on. Aren't you going to jump in?" Rose called up to him.

"Sorry," he said as he sat on the edge of the pier to talk to us. "I gotta guard."

"There's not that many of us in here. Can't you guys swap out or something? I doubt all ten of you need to guard."

"Give me a minute to figure it out." He stood up and walked off to have a chat with Liam.

A couple minutes later he was back. He took off his shirt and tossed it on the pier, then jumped in with a huge splash.

"Eddie, get in here," Emmett called up to him a minute later.

"I'm fine up here, thanks."

"No, you're coming in."

"No, I'm not." He set his jaw stubbornly.

Emmett and Jasper swam to the 'out' ladder, climbed out, walked across the pier, and grabbed Edward – Jasper at his feet and Emmett behind his arms. We moved out of the way.

"Yes, you are," they said in unison and tossed him into the lake. They jumped back in a moment later, after he'd surfaced.

"Fuckin' bastards," he said, smirking as he shook his head and pushed his hair out of his face. "You couldn't let me take my shirt off first?" He peeled his soaked t-shirt off and tossed it on top of Emmett's.

"Dude! That's my shirt!"

"What'd you expect?" he said, laughing at Emmett.

I hadn't seen Edward this relaxed all week. I wondered what could have changed his mood so much.

The shrill sound of a whistle interrupted us.

"Time to get out guys," Liam told us. "I just spotted lightning in the distance."

Edward climbed out ahead of me, giving me the opportunity to check out his ass. The guys grabbed their soaked shirts and tried to wring out as much water as they could, and we went to dry off and change. Once the guys returned from putting things away in the boathouse, we headed to our cabins to kill time until dinner. I couldn't help but sneak peeks at Edward's chest in his still-wet shirt the whole way back.

"You know what we haven't done yet this week?" Emmett asked with a sly expression.

"Pounce!" Edward and Jasper said in unison. I looked at Rose and Alice, but they didn't seem to have any idea either.

"Have you girls never played before?" Jasper asked, noticing the bewildered expression on our faces.

"Not that I'm aware of…" I was pretty sure I hadn't, but maybe it had a different name.

"Do you each have a deck of cards?" We all nodded, and the guys followed us to our cabin to get them.

"So, why not Poker?" Alice asked after a little while.

"Well, that's better played when you know there's no chance of being interrupted, if you know what I mean." Emmett waggled his eyebrows.

Edward rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Em, I think they know what you mean."

We headed into our cabin. We had just finished hanging our wet stuff to dry when I realized the guys were still outside.

"You guys can come in you know," I called out to them.

"We didn't want to intrude," Jasper said as he and the guys came in.

"And coming in while we're sleeping isn't intruding?" Rosalie asked. Damn, and here I thought she was getting over that.

"You were awake when we came in!" Emmett defended himself. "And you let us in!"

"Oh, so the pig just let itself in?"

"Well, no." Emmett looked a bit sheepish. "But we didn't need to come in with him. We just opened the door for him…"

"And I suppose –"

"Rose!" I interrupted. "Just grab your cards. You can kick his ass that way." I turned to Emmett and mouthed "toe pick." His eyes went wide, momentarily shocked, before a slow, sly grin spread across his face.

"Alright, let's go," Alice said, her deck of cards in one hand and her bag of pixie sticks in the other.

"So how does this game work?" I asked as we headed to the guys' cabin.

"You all know how to play regular solitaire, right?" Jasper asked. We all nodded.

"Well, it's kind of like that. Each person has their own smaller version of solitaire set up – you lay out five stacks instead of seven. And you have a separate pile of ten cards – the pounce pile – that you're trying to get rid of before anyone else does. All the aces go in the center – you can play on any stack in the middle, not just your own. When someone lays down the last card from their pounce pile, they yell 'pounce' and the game stops. There's a few other details that are easier to explain when we play."

"So, play here or head to the dining hall?" Jasper asked once we were back at their cabin. Their cabin mates weren't around. Edward and Emmett had gone to their bunks and were changing out of their wet shirts, distracting Rose and I in the process.

"Here's fine, if you don't mind," Alice said, plunking herself on the floor. The rest of us joined her, shuffling our decks, and laying out our cards. Once we were ready, Emmett called "Go!" and we got started. Every now and then the guys would call us out on something they hadn't explained well enough. Alice won the first round. We decided to go by number of games won instead of properly scoring points, so we just sorted out the cards, returned them to their owners, and continued.

The next few rounds we played fast and furiously, taunting and cursing each other as we played our cards into the center.

We were so caught up in the game that we lost track of time until Emmett commented on how hungry he was.

"Shit, dinner's half over," Edward said after glancing at one of their alarm clocks.

"We can sort the cards later," Jasper decided, and we abandoned our cards and headed to the door, only to find that we were also oblivious to the fact that it had started raining. Hard.

We ran to dinner, splashing through puddles in the gravel road along the way. Needless to say, we were thoroughly soaked when we reached the dining hall.

Since dinner was well underway, there wasn't a table with enough seats for all of us, so we split up. I took off my hoodie and hung it on a stack of chairs against the wall before heading to an open seat.

"Oh, Bella, we were so worried about you," Angela said as I took an open seat near her.

"You're soaked," Lauren huffed, scooting away from me.

"I'm fine. Just lost track of time and didn't realize it had started raining."

"So what were you doing?" Jessica asked from across the table. I tapped Yorkie's arm, motioning for him to pass me the food.

"Orgy," I leaned in and whispered to her.

Her jaw dropped. "How were they?" she whispered back.

"Well, Rosalie does this amazing thing with…" Her eyes got so wide I was afraid they were going to roll across the table. "Geez! I'm kidding, Jess. We were just playing cards."

The rest of dinner passed with normal conversation. Dessert tonight was chocolate pudding. I mindlessly scraped the last bits of it out of my bowl with my finger, then sucked it off.

"Nice, Bella," Jessica commented as I set my bowl down. I noticed Mike was watching my finger intently. Ugh. I wondered if she noticed him watching me too and was jealous.

"What?"

"You're acting like a kid."

"So? We're at camp." I laughed. She just shook her head.

We were all still seated, talking while we waited for the last of the tables to be cleared. Slowly the chatter died down and everyone's hand went into the air, except for Eric and Mike. I elbowed Eric, and the two of them quickly shut up and raised their hands.

"Thank you," Marcus said, and we all dropped our hands. "As you may have noticed, it's raining pretty hard out there."

"That's an understatement," I heard Emmett mutter at the table behind me.

"So we've decided to conduct the first aid training here in the Dining Hall tonight. Unless you all would rather head over to the Health Center."

A resounding chorus of "NO!" was our reply. He chuckled.

"Alright. Well, you've got about fifteen minutes of free time, so be sure you're all back here on time. We have a guest tonight, and we don't want to waste his time."

I had forgotten to check my mailbox after lunch, so I headed into the staff room. I didn't have any mail, but someone had found my toothbrush and returned it. I smiled, glad that I wouldn't have to find a replacement. There was a note with it, too.

_I apologize for my rudeness this morning. You caught me off guard.  
-Edward_

I tucked both the toothbrush and the note back in the cubby for now.

Distracted, I headed back into the hall and was startled when I nearly walked into someone. I stumbled back.

"Bella!"

I looked up.

"Oh, hey, Dr. Cullen."

"Please. It's Carlisle."

"Uh… Right. Sorry. I should have known you would be the guest Marcus mentioned." I laughed.

"So how's your finger feeling?"

"Uh, fine, I guess. I think tomorrow's gonna be a bit of a pain with it splinted…"

"What's on the schedule?"

"Archery and the climbing wall are the main things."

"Ah, yes. I can see where the splint would be a problem. Why don't you see me when we're done?" He smiled.

I nodded. A second later, arms snaked around my waist, and I was lifted off my feet.

"What the – ?" I couldn't help but laugh.

"Dr. C, how's it going?"

"Good, Emmett, good. We'll be seeing you this weekend?"

"Of course. Sorry, I've got to steal her away." He turned to head back towards the dining hall with me.

"Emmett, put me down. I'm perfectly capable of walking." I tried to squirm my way loose.

"Yeah, walking into people. I'm not sure if I trust you on your own…" And with that he released me slightly then flipped me around so I was over his shoulder, making me shriek. As we headed through the doors, I saw Carlisle laughing and shaking his head as he headed into the staff room.

"Emmett, let me down!" I said through my laughter. A second later, I was back on my feet. "Geez, Em, I'm not that much of a klutz."

"I dunno, you had a hard time walking last night," Edward laughed.

"Yeah, well, it was dark." I walked past him and sat on the table next to Jasper, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at him.

"What's so funny?" Rose asked as she and Alice joined us.

"Emmett doesn't seem to think I can walk from the staff room back here without killing myself."

Before Rose could reply, Heidi got our attention and then turned things over to Sasha, who introduced Dr. Cullen. He would be here on Sundays to assist with checking campers in, and he was most likely who we would see if we needed to take someone in to the clinic.

She then went on to explain what was in the First Aid kits, where they were kept (one in every building and cabin in camp), and how we needed to document what we did every time we used anything from it. She also reminded us that if we were working with any programs that went out of camp, we would need to get one of the travel kits before we left, and that we should take the cabin's kit with us on our overnights.

Since we all had to be First Aid certified before we arrived at camp, we then went over a few scenarios that were more camp-specific than what we had in our classes. We all had a good laugh when Sasha asked us, "What would you do if we came across someone who fell off a ladder in the middle of a field?" After a bit of silence, Jasper replied, "Question why there's a ladder in the middle of a field for someone to fall off of." Carlisle and Sasha amended the scenario, and we continued.

When we were through, Carlisle took a look at my finger, said it looked to be healing well, then showed me how to buddy tape it for tomorrow.

I popped into the staff room to grab my toothbrush, and we headed back to the guys' cabin. The rain had died down quite a bit, so the walk back wasn't bad. We stayed just long enough to clean up the cards from earlier, then headed back to our own cabin.

After I changed out of my damp clothes into my pajamas, I was going to read, except my book was nowhere to be found. I turned to Alice and Rose.

"Have either of you seen my book?"

"The one with the half-dead woman on the cover?" Alice asked innocently. A little too innocently.

"She's not half-dead, she's a zombie."

"Either way, it's creepy," Rose said with disgust.

"We're going to make it camp appropriate."

"You will do no such thing! Give me my book," I demanded, holding my hand out expectantly.

"Sorry Bella. It's for your own good," Alice said.

Moments later, we were up in the Art Shack. Alice started out by slapping a sticker over the rotting face.

"Alice, what is that?!"

"It's a unicorn, Bella. Girls love unicorns." Alice busied herself with wrapping the inner pages in saran wrap, then attacked the cover with glue.

"It looks a little random though."

"Better than the creepiness," Rose said as she rejoined us with a bin she had pulled off one of the shelves.

"Ready, Rose?"

"Ready." She handed Alice and I each a container of glitter and took one for herself. "You ready, Bella?"

I heaved a sigh. "I can't believe I'm defacing a book."

"People do it all the time, B. You should see some of the altered books I have at home."

"I think that would traumatize me," I deadpanned.

"Alright, let's do this before the glue dries. Start glittering."

We covered the book in gold, silver, and green sparkles. A little too well, actually. Alice unburied the book and tapped the excess glitter off into a tray. Rose was about to pour the mass of multi-colored sparkles back into one of the containers.

"Stop! You can't mix the glitter like that!"

"Alice, I think your OCD is showing." She shot me a withering glare.

"Ok, fine," Rose said. "What are we going to do with it then?"

"I have an idea."

* * *

**Thanks as always to my awesome betas LambCullen, MaleficentKnits, and adoraklutz.**

**More thanks… to Gasaway Alley for referring to Newton as a squid. I love it. The UU girls for the glitterbook inspiration, among many other things. Ms Shalula for convincing me that I needed to watch _Meatballs_ for research.**

**Pounce is an awesome card game - we played it a lot. One set of directions can be found here:  
****www (DOT) babygorilla (DOT) com /warehouse /games /pounce /pounce (DOT) html  
I think I learned it slightly differently, which is why the story might not match that 100%.**

**Also, if it wasn't quite clear what Marcus was doing at dinner - ****"When the hand goes up, the mouth goes shut." T****he "quiet" sign is used A LOT at camp.  
**

**Questions? Thoughts? Suggestions? Want to see more of the guys in the lake? Leave a review. :)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**As always, not my characters. I do own a handful of bull's eye awards.**

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* * *

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"Was someone crying when we got back last night?" I asked Rose at breakfast.

"Yeah, Tanya. But she wouldn't talk about what happened. Kate said she just wanted to be left alone about it."

Before I could ask anything more, Alice finally joined us.

"You're late. What have you been up to?" I asked. She looked very… post-coital.

"Did the cunning linguist finally turn up?" Rose asked, scrutinizing Alice while blindly stabbing at the eggs on her plate.

"We would have heard him coming if he had, wouldn't we?" I asked.

"Don't you mean we'd have heard her cumming?"

We looked back at Alice. She hadn't touched a thing on her plate. "Alice!" Rose was snapping her fingers in Alice's face, trying to get her attention.

"Sorry. I had another dream last night."

"Looks like it was a damn good dream."

"Oh, it was!" She then proceeded to gush about the dress she was wearing and the talented fingers that had found their way under it.

"And you still don't know what he looks like?" I asked.

"Nope, he was behind me - I was sitting on his lap. All I really saw were his fingers before I pulled them into my mouth. Oh, but his lips at my ear and gliding along my neck..." She gave an involuntary shudder.

"Sorry to interrupt, but have you seen Emmett or Edward this morning?" Garrett leaned in between us. The guys were conspicuously absent this morning.

"No, sorry," Rosalie replied. After he left, we exchanged knowing looks.

"So, where was I?" Alice asked. "Oh, yes, his mouth…"

"Yes, Al, you already told us about his talented mouth last time."

That didn't dissuade her. She continued to tell us in great detail about her dream.

Rose glanced at her watch. "Al, we should probably head up to the Art Shack to get things set-up."

"Oh, right." We took our plates up to the kitchen, Alice grabbed the toast off her plate, and we headed out. Between bites of her toast, Alice described those talented fingers to us in fine detail – the scars, the calluses, the length of his nails, and I don't know what else 'cause I tuned out at some point.

Once in the Art Shack, Alice turned into a little dictator. She had us set up each table with a bowl of water, some sponges, a couple of mallets, a set of stamps, and a few different shaped pieces of leather. On a side table she had us put out some leather punches, Sharpies, leather cording, pin backs, and a hot glue gun.

While we were getting that set up, she was putting out samples of various craft activities she had planned for the summer.

Just as we were finishing up, everyone was filing in and taking a seat around the tables. The guys were the last ones in, trying not to draw attention their way. Rose and I joined the guys and tried to keep from laughing.

"What happened to you guys?" Rose asked.

"Obviously we got pranked last night," Emmett said, brushing furiously at his arm, trying to rid it of the glitter that was covering his entire upper body. "How the hell do you get this stuff off, anyway?"

"We've already tried the shower," Jasper added.

"Good luck with that. I have no idea. I was never into the glitter look," Rose said.

"I bet you look just _dazzling_ in the sun," I teased.

"Watch it, Swan," Edward warned.

"Oh, like I'm real scared of someone who sparkles," I taunted.

He didn't get a chance to reply. Alice got everyone's attention and explained to us how she was running the crafts program. She then told us that we'd be making our nametags today and started in on a quick demo of how to work with the leather.

"There are a few different styles and sizes of alphabets. There's also a number of decorative designs that you can add to your nametag," she said, pointing out the boxes of stamps on the tables.

"Once you've figured out the design, the first thing you'll want to do is get your leather wet." She dipped a sponge into the bowl of water and moistened the piece of leather she was using for her demo. "Then you place the stamp on the leather. Make sure that you put it facing the right direction so things aren't upside down or anything. You'll use the mallet to imprint the design." She did so, then took the sponge and wet the leather again. "Remember, the wetter it is, the deeper it'll go when you pound it." She continued to work on her piece. "But you don't want it to be too wet, or things will slip."

At that, Emmett lost it.

"Go ahead and get started. If you have any questions, let me know," she finished up, shooting him a death glare.

"What the hell?" Rose turned on Emmett, smacking his shoulder in the process.

"Didn't you hear what she said?"

"She was explaining how to… Oh, god, Emmett, is your mind ever out of the gutter?"

"Hey, I'm not the only one that caught it," he defended himself, pointing to Jasper who was trying to hide his laughter.

"Oh, shut up and hand me my leather."

Emmett looked like he was having a hard time keeping his mouth shut.

"Say it," Edward taunted. "Out loud."

"Does he really need to?" Jasper asked. "We all know what he's dying to say."

Conversation pretty much ceased after that due to all the hammering, though the guys were still laughing at Alice's unintended innuendo. Forty-five minutes later, everyone had their nametags made and Alice had us all cleaning up.

After everything was cleaned up, we headed down to the archery range. Benjamin gave a brief demo of how to shoot as well as going over safety procedures and the commands he'd give.

"Any questions?" he asked. Silence. "Ok, the first six people can come up to the line. Remember, don't touch anything before I give the command, unless you choose to use the arm guards."

We sat behind the rope designating the archery area and watched while the first few groups went through the process.

Emmett and Tanya were up. They straddled the line with the others and awaited the commands.

"Archers, fire at will," Benjamin said.

"Good thing Will's not here," Emmett replied as he picked up his bow. Benjamin rolled his eyes. Edward groaned.

"He says that every year," Jasper explained with a chuckle.

It was obvious that Tanya and Emmett knew what they were doing. I think Tanya shot well, but I was distracted by Rosalie. She had leaned in and was watching the way Emmett's muscles flexed as he pulled the string back rather intently. I nudged Alice to get her attention. I think he knew he had an audience, because he held each arrow a little longer than the last, showing off his strength to maximum effect.

"The glitter really highlights his muscle tone, wouldn't you say?" I whispered to Alice.

"Oh, most definitely. I wish I had my camera."

When all the arrows had been shot and they're group had been cleared to retrieve their arrows, Al and I started in on Rose.

"See something you like?" Alice asked sweetly. Rose glared at her.

"Don't you say a –"

"I don't think we need to," I interrupted. Emmett was walking back, arrows in hand, with a cocky smile aimed at Rose. He deposited the arrows back into the quiver and joined us.

"I hit the target every time," he bragged.

"We noticed," I said dryly, rolling my eyes.

"It'd be more impressive if you hit the bull's-eye each time," Edward taunted. That was met with a chorus of "oohs" from the group.

"That sounds like a challenge," Rose said.

"Not really. Everyone knows that Tanya and Edward are the best archers on staff," Jasper told us.

"Bella will beat him today," Alice said confidently. I shot her a look.

"What the hell, Alice? I've never shot with a bow before."

"Don't worry. You'll do fine," she reassured me. I gave her a withering look.

A few more rounds passed. Jasper shot well, but Rose and Alice were lucky if they hit the target once.

Edward and I finally made our way up to the line and ended up sharing a target. I tried not to be intimidated by him or let the pressure of Alice's statement get to me.

"Shooters to the line," Benjamin called.

We picked up our bows. I was so glad Dr. C. had shown me how to buddy tape my finger; this would have been a lot more difficult with it splinted.

"Prepare to shoot."

I pulled the first arrow from the quiver and nocked it.

"Fire at will."

I pinched the arrow between my fingers like Benjamin had shown us and prepared to pull the string back. It took me a minute to get the feel of things, and I realized that Edward still hadn't shot his first arrow. Was he waiting for me? I tried not to let that distract me as I took aim.

I released the arrow and tried to remember to hold my bow arm steady so it wouldn't send the arrow off course.

The arrow hit the inner yellow circle with a satisfying THWACK. A second later I heard a second THWACK, Edward's arrow hitting the outer yellow.

He looked down at me. "Beginner's luck," he muttered, before nocking his second arrow.

Oh, no, this was not luck. I resolved to live up to Alice's prediction and pulled out my second arrow. I nocked it and took aim again. THWACK. It hit right next to the first one. THWACK. Edward's hit right on the border of the yellow and red.

THWACK. THWACK. THWACK. THWACK.

They were all clustered together in the center of the target. We were both down to our last arrow. Edward turned to look at me and smirked. _Oh fuck! _That sent a jolt straight to my girly parts. _Must regain my focus._ I took a calming breath and smirked right back at him. We took aim and loosed our arrows. THWACK. Both arrows hit the bull's eye at the same time.

We set our bows down and stepped back, waiting for the others to finish so we could retrieve our arrows.

"I think that second arrow did you in."

"What are you talking about? It's in the yellow!" he cried indignantly.

"Nope, it's in the red. And if it is, Alice was right," I said smugly. He was silent for a moment.

"You cheated."

"How do you figure?"

"You said you've never shot before. No one shoots that well the first time. It takes a while to get used to aiming."

I shrugged. "How's that cheating? It's true. I said I've never shot _a bow_ before. You should've seen me the first time Charlie took me to the shooting range. I missed every shot." I laughed at the memory.

"You still should have said something." I was surprised he wasn't actually pouting.

"You should have asked. I thought I'd mentioned my dad's a cop."

"Shooters retrieve your arrows," Benjamin called, and we headed out to the target.

"Point taken," he conceded.

As we got closer, it became more and more obvious that Edward's arrow was in the red. His shoulders sagged in defeat.

"Ha!" I cried, jumping in excitement.

"Shit," he muttered, then held his hand out to me once we'd reached the target. "Well done, Swan."

"Thanks, Masen," I said wryly, mimicking his use of my last name. I shook his outstretched hand. There was that damn jolt between us again. We both pulled away quickly, his hand going to his hair and mine going to the target. We pulled the arrows out and headed back in silence, dropping our arrows back in the quiver.

"What'd I tell you?!" Alice jumped up and gave me a hug.

"Ready to pay up you two?" Rose asked to the guys.

"You bet on us?!" Edward and I asked simultaneously, glaring at our friends.

"It seemed too easy," Emmett said with a shrug.

"You know better than to bet against Alice," Rosalie reminded me. "When they challenged it, I couldn't refuse."

-------

"So what were the stakes?" Edward asked over lunch.

"You'll see on Sunday," Alice said cryptically.

"I thought we were staying at Carlisle's this weekend?" He looked at Emmett and Jasper.

"We are. They won't mind if we invite the girls over, will they?" Emmett checked.

"When have they ever minded who we bring home?"

"Point," Jasper conceded. "We should probably still run it by him though."

"You should have asked Carlisle last night." Edward grumbled. "I don't think they'll mind though. Tanya, Kate, and Irina are staying with them this weekend too." Jasper and Emmett gave him a look. "What?"

"We'll talk later," Emmett said.

I spent the rest of lunch stewing over the fact that Tanya was going to be with him all weekend.

The afternoon was spent at the climbing wall and high ropes course. I was still on a bit of a high after besting Edward at archery.

Things went fine until the end when I was coming down from the climbing wall and misjudged how close to the ground I was. I ended up landing on Mike. We toppled to the ground with me lying on top of him.

"Hey, Bella," he said suggestively, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close, thrusting slightly into my thigh.

"Knock it off, Mike," I growled, rolling off of him as quick as I could. It took everything I had to resist the urge to smack him.

"You ok?" Emmett asked, offering his hand.

"Yeah, fine. No injuries."

"Then why is your elbow all purple?" I looked down to find a trail of bruises starting at my elbow and running down my inner forearm.

"Oh, I think that's from archery."

"Maybe you should wear the arm guard next time."

I shrugged. It wasn't that big a deal.

We sat on the ground while we waited for the others to finish up. I spotted Edward near the top of the climbing wall and couldn't take my eyes off him. _Damn, that boy has a fine ass._ No sooner than I'd thought that, I felt someone's eyes on me, and realized that Edward had caught me ogling him. I looked away quickly.

Once everyone was back on the ground, we headed to the lodge and split up into our groups from the overnight to play Camp Jeopardy – reviewing everything we'd learned over the course of the week thus far.

Every time Emmett's group was able to choose, he'd mimic the Jeopardy contestants – "I'll take Waterfront for 500, Marcus." Jasper told me that he watches the show religiously during the school year.

Despite his love of the show, Emmett's team came in third. Our team came in second, while Edward's came in first. Emmett was convinced that they cheated. Jasper called him out on being a sore loser.

We rearranged the tables and set about preparing for dinner. Dessert was yellow Jell-O, and Chelsea came around to all the tables and confiscated our silverware.

"How the hell are we supposed to eat this now?" Liam asked.

"We slurp it!" Jasper and Emmett cried with youthful exuberance.

"Ruddy Americans," he muttered, but joined in the fun.

After dinner, we headed over to the camp store. While we were waiting for Lauren to be ready to go over things with us, Maria suggested we play the alien game while we wait.

Lauren came out as we finished and explained how things would run with the store. It was open primarily when the parents were here to drop off and pick up their kids, but would also be open a short time after meals so the kids could get stamps and things they might need during the week.

Lauren went on to explain that all camper money was held at the shop. The parents would leave some for the kids when they dropped them off, and if they received any in their mail, they should bring it down for safe-keeping. Any unspent money would be returned at the end of the session.

After that, we went through and picked up our staff shirts for the season. I overheard a couple of the Junior Counselors excitedly saying "We're staff!" and couldn't help but smile. It must be a big deal if you've been a camper for years.

Before we left, Emmett slipped me a note:

_B, R & A –_

_Remember a few nights ago? We're going tonight. Meet us down there at 11pm._

_PS. Whatever you do, don't let Tanya know about this._

I recognized the writing as Jasper's. Up by our initials, someone had written _BRA! Awesome!_ It was nearly illegible. Next to it, Jas had written _Grow up Emmett!_

Once we got back to the cabin, I realized my book was still up in the Art Shack from last night. I asked Alice and Rose to walk up with me, figuring it'd be a good way to show them the note without the other girls seeing it.

Once up there, I tossed the note on the table for them to read while I went to grab my book.

"What do you think? Is it legit or are they trying to get us back for the glitter attack?"

"Hard to say. You don't think they'd try to retaliate this quickly, do you?" Alice asked.

"I say we go. I wouldn't mind checking out the goods again," Rose said. "We should take precautions though, just in case." We discussed strategy a bit before heading back to the cabin, just in case.

When the time came, we headed down, being careful not to wake the other girls. The three guys were sitting on the edge of the pier waiting for us.

We made our way out to join them.

"You got the message," Jasper drawled. Alice shuddered a bit. I guess it was a bit cold down here.

"Did you not trust Emmett to get it to us?" I asked him.

"No, just weren't sure if you'd come."

"What are we doing standing here? Let's get in," Rose exlaimed.

"Ladies first," Jasper said, gesturing at the lake.

"Why don't you guys get in first?" Alice suggested.

"Don't you trust us?"

"Why should we?"

"Hey, we already learned we can't trust you girls."

"Enough already, are we all going in or not?" Rose asked.

"Fine," Emmett conceded. "Since we don't trust each other, should we do this all at once?"

"Shirts, then shorts, then in?" Jasper suggested.

We all nodded, then gripped the hems of our shirts and took them off, dropping them behind us on the pier. The guys' eyes bugged out of their heads.

"What, you guys have never seen naked boobs before?" Rosalie taunted while eyefucking Emmett.

"Well, you forget Rose, Jasper and Emmett _were _together." That sobered them up.

"We were never together," Emmett denied vehemently.

"That kiss could have fooled me." Rose cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Can we get in already?" While I enjoyed the chance to ogle their naked chests, I was feeling a bit exposed and chilly.

"Tits a bit nipply, Bella? You breast get inside," Emmett teased. I'm sure I was blushing head to toe. I wondered if it was noticeable in what little light there was out here.

"Oh, drop your pants so we can get in already," Alice huffed, moving her hands to her waistband.

We all followed suit, kicking our shorts or pants off and onto our shirts then quickly jumping in. I was hoping to get another look at Edward, but he was in the water faster than anyone. We squealed at the cold, and Edward shushed us.

"The boat police," he hissed in reminder.

"If they come over, I'll be a human buoy," Emmett said, raising his arms and bobbing in the water.

"Whatever, Emmett," Jasper said, chuckling as he smacked him in the arm to get him to stop.

"Do you guys hear something?"

"Stop being paranoid, Bella. We're not gonna get caught." Emmett said. He was chasing after Rose, who was doing her best to keep her distance.

"Shut up! Really, I think someone's coming."

"Already, Eddie? Geez, we –"

"Shut up, Emmett." Jasper, Rose, and Edward all smacked him.

We were all quiet for a second, and then we heard a branch snap. We looked at each other, then darted for the ladders and our clothes. As we made our way across the pier, we saw four shadowy figures approaching. We hurriedly put our clothes on and headed back towards our cabins.

"Thanks for the show ladies," James said, leering as we passed him and his friends. I felt violated. And here I thought Mike Newton was bad…

* * *

**A/N: So, has your inbox been full of updates today? Thanks to MrsTheKing for organizing her reader appreciation updatepalooza event.  
**

**As always, thanks to my awesome betas/prereaders: Mal, lambie, and AdoraKlutz. also thanks to everyone who's reviewed/alerted/nudged me to keep this going.  
**

**There are two days left in staff training, and then we get to what Mal has been waiting for - JAlice. What are you looking forward to?  
**


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